{"id":68411,"date":"2026-05-12T22:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/68411\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T22:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:20:09","slug":"trump-xi-talks-in-beijing-whats-at-stake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/68411\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump-Xi talks in Beijing: What’s at stake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEIJING\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Trump\u2019s first visit to China in nine years is a high-stakes trip<\/a> reflecting the rivalry and mutual dependence of two superpowers hoping to avoid a collision course \u2014 even if Trump cast it more as a meeting between close friends and business partners.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters before departing Washington on Tuesday, Trump downplayed tensions between the two countries, including on trade, calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a \u201cwonderful guy\u201d and a friend and saying the working relationship between the two countries is \u201cvery good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump acknowledged China\u2019s might \u2014 saying that the Asian nation and the United States are clearly the world\u2019s two superpowers \u2014 and that the focus of the meeting \u201cmore than anything else will be trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna have a great relationship for many, many decades to come,\u201d Trump said. \u201cMy relationship with President Xi is a fantastic one. We\u2019ve always gotten along, and we\u2019re doing very well with China, and working with China\u2019s been very good \u2014 so we look forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also downplayed the importance of the meeting for the war in Iran. He said Xi might be able to help the United States reach a deal to end the war, but that he doesn\u2019t need it, \u201cbecause we have Iran very much under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state visit marks the first by an American president to China since Trump\u2019s trip here in 2017,<\/a> only months into his first term. President Biden never came, becoming the first to not do so since diplomatic ties were normalized, an absence that underscored simmering distrust and animosity between Washington and Beijing that has only worsened since.<\/p>\n

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In the capital, security forces sealed off an area around the Temple of Heaven<\/a> roughly the size of 400 football fields ahead of the U.S. president\u2019s visit, anticipating a stop at the monument to imperial China and Confucian thought.<\/p>\n

On his previous trip, Trump received the rare honor of a state banquet inside the Forbidden City. This time he is expected to dine at the Great Hall of the People, an imposing structure off Tiananmen Square that hosts high-level gatherings of the Chinese Communist Party.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s positive spin on Tuesday aside, his agenda for meetings beginning Thursday with Xi highlights the vast array of American interests that depend on \u2014 and often clash with \u2014 Beijing\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

After launching a trade war against China<\/a> at the beginning of his second term, Trump now comes hat in hand requesting an extension of a tariff truce, fearful Xi might follow through on his threats to halt the export of rare earth minerals<\/a> to the United States that are vital to the manufacturing of American goods, including everyday consumer equipment and advanced defense technologies.<\/p>\n

His visit comes as a ceasefire in the war with Iran, brokered with help from Beijing, is on \u201cmassive life support,\u201d<\/a> according to the president. Trump is expected to appeal to Xi for assistance in getting Tehran to restore free and open passage through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

And in a dramatic reversal, the Trump administration has begun discussions with the Chinese about establishing a channel of communication on artificial intelligence,<\/a> alarmed that recent technological leaps could pose global risks.<\/p>\n

All of these requests are expected to come at a cost.<\/p>\n

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President Trump departs the White House on May 12, 2026, for his second state visit to China. <\/p>\n

(Kevin Dietsch \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In earlier remarks before the trip, Trump said he expected U.S. arms sale to Taiwan \u2014 including one already approved by Congress \u2014 to become a chip in the negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to have that discussion with President Xi,\u201d Trump said. \u201cPresident Xi would like us not to, and I\u2019ll have that discussion. That\u2019s one of the many things I\u2019ll be talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The notion that U.S. support for Taiwan is a negotiable matter is sure to rattle America\u2019s allies throughout the region, from Japan to the Philippines, which are reliant on U.S. security guarantees amid China\u2019s Indo-Pacific military aggression.<\/p>\n

Despite geopolitical tensions, both sides are expected to announce business and investment agreements, underscoring how deeply intertwined the world\u2019s two largest economies remain.<\/p>\n

China plans on making a significant purchase of Boeing aircraft, and the president has brought 17 American corporate leaders with him on the trip to discuss additional opportunities, including Apple\u2019s Tim Cook, BlackRock\u2019s Larry Fink, Meta\u2019s Dina Powell McCormick and Tesla\u2019s Elon Musk.<\/p>\n

The two leaders are expected to have other opportunities to talk in person throughout the coming year, including potential meetings at the Group of 20 summit in Florida, the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China, and a state visit in Washington that Trump said he will host for Xi at some point in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Trump on Tuesday said Xi\u2019s visit will be \u201ctoward the end of the year\u201d and \u201cexciting.\u201d He also lamented that the ballroom he is building on the White House grounds \u2014 on the site of the historic East Wing he demolished \u2014 won\u2019t be ready in time.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Hong, senior director at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security, said her concern is that the state visit becomes part of a \u201ctyranny of calendaring,\u201d where the Chinese agree to schedule more high-level meetings sought by Trump that put off vital U.S. decision-making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think this trip is necessary for the U.S. government \u2014 I think that there are things that are on hold because he doesn\u2019t want to rock the boat,\u201d Hong said, noting the Trump administration\u2019s delay in arms sales to Taiwan, despite the packages already having received congressional approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just worried this will be a stringing along of promises, or maybe some reprieve for a year or so,\u201d she added, \u201cas we continue to handicap ourselves on national security matters for the sake of more meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump on Tuesday repeatedly dismissed China\u2019s potential help in resolving the war in Iran, which has driven up prices domestically and around the world as oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz have been badly disrupted and U.S. efforts to fully reopen the channel have so far been unsuccessful. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we need any help with Iran, to be honest with you,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019re defeated militarily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also said the financial pain many Americans are feeling from the war, including at the gas pump, simply isn\u2019t a factor \u2014 \u201cnot even a little bit,\u201d he said \u2014 in his ongoing negotiations with Iran. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that matters when I\u2019m talking about Iran [is that] they can\u2019t have a nuclear weapon,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think about Americans\u2019 financial situation. I don\u2019t think about anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIJING\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Trump\u2019s first visit to China in nine years is a high-stakes trip reflecting the rivalry and mutual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[260,250,39123,21859,35242,39852,34,13572,10,65,11,64,178,14730,185,739,20312,512],"class_list":{"0":"post-68411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-trump","8":"tag-beijing","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-chinese-president-xi-jinping","11":"tag-discussion","12":"tag-first-visit","13":"tag-high-stakes-trip","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-meeting","16":"tag-potus","17":"tag-president-donald-trump","18":"tag-president-of-the-united-states","19":"tag-president-trump","20":"tag-tuesday","21":"tag-u-s-president","22":"tag-war","23":"tag-washington","24":"tag-xi","25":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116563936742168384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}