Updated
May 13, 2026, 10:43 p.m. ET
President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, were meeting in Beijing on Thursday, at the start of a high-stakes summit that will focus on trade, Iran, Taiwan and other points of contention.
The meeting, the first U.S. presidential visit to China in nearly a decade, could determine whether a détente that has prevailed between the superpowers will continue — and what concessions, if any, either side is willing to make.
Mr. Xi met Mr. Trump on Thursday morning outside the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing. They shook hands, and Mr. Trump patted Mr. Xi on the arm before they walked together past an honor guard. As “The Star-Spangled Banner” played, a 21-gun salute echoed across Tiananmen Square, resounding off the Great Hall and the entrance gate to the Forbidden City.
Inside the Great Hall, both leaders hailed the importance of the U.S.-China relationship. Mr. Xi said the two countries had reached “a crossroads” in their relationship and called for the two sides to work together for the sake of stability. “We should be partners, not adversaries,” he said.
The two leaders last met in October in South Korea, where they agreed to pause a bruising trade war in which Beijing had threatened to impose sweeping new restrictions on exports of rare earths in response to triple-digit U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
Mr. Xi decided at the time to postpone those measures for a year. A question looming over the summit is whether China will agree to an extension.
Mr. Trump has said that his trip to Beijing, which will include meetings with Mr. Xi at historic landmarks and conclude on Friday, will focus on trade and investment. Several top executives, including Jensen Huang of the U.S. chip-maker Nvidia, have joined the president in China. American business leaders have been pushing for measures that would further open the Chinese market, though analysts say that a major deal is unlikely. Beijing could make some limited promises on purchases of Boeing aircraft and U.S. agricultural goods like soybeans and beef, they say.
The president is also expected to call on Beijing to help persuade Tehran, its closest partner in the Middle East, to end the deadlocked war in Iran that the United States and Israel started in late February. Mr. Trump has demanded that Tehran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial supply route for the world’s oil and natural gas, and on Tuesday again threatened to decimate Iran unless its leaders agree to limits on their nuclear program.
Mr. Xi will have other priorities. Analysts say he may push for the loosening of U.S. export controls on advanced technology, and for pledges from Mr. Trump not to raise tariffs on Chinese goods, among other things.
But his main priority is Taiwan, the issue that could most likely set off a war between the two superpowers. Mr. Xi may try to persuade Mr. Trump to break with longstanding U.S. policy by saying he opposes independence for Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory. A related Chinese priority is persuading the United States to significantly curtail its arms sales to Taiwan.
Forcing major shifts in U.S. policies toward Taiwan would be a long shot. But then again, Mr. Xi has a powerful card to play: China’s economic leverage over Tehran, and the prospect that it could potentially help to reopen the strait and ease the widening economic fallout of the war.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
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Artificial Intelligence: Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are expected to discuss the risks from A.I., but neither country seems willing to be the first to slow down. Read more ›
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Human Rights: Mr. Trump has said he will raise the case of Jimmy Lai, an imprisoned pro-democracy media mogul, during his trip. Other human rights issues, including the systemic repression of the Uyghurs, are unlikely to make the agenda. Read more ›
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Taiwan: Few issues in diplomacy are more complicated than the status of the island. U.S. policy around it has long rested on nuanced formulae. Read more ›
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Imperial Style: In private meetings with less powerful foreign leaders, Mr. Xi carries himself as a philosopher king in the mold of ancient Chinese rulers. Read more ›
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