Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday ahead of the primary leg of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the agenda centered on the Iran war, trade disputes and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, according to the Associated Press. The main bilateral talks were set for Thursday, when the leaders plan to hold talks, visit the Temple of Heaven, and attend a formal banquet.
Chinese officials provided a high-profile welcome soon after Air Force One landed in the Chinese capital. Trump was greeted by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, China’s ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng, and Ma Zhaoxu, the executive vice minister of foreign affairs, along with U.S. envoy to Beijing David Perdue.
The ceremony included a military honor guard and a military band. About 300 Chinese youths then waved Chinese and American flags and chanted “Welcome, welcome! Warm welcome!” as Trump moved to his waiting limousine, with the greeters dressed in white and robin’s egg blue outfits that matched the paint job of Air Force One, the AP reported.
Before traveling, Trump had framed the relationship with Xi as one rooted in strength. “We’re the two superpowers,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday for the flight to Beijing. He added, “We’re the strongest nation on Earth in terms of military. China’s considered second.”
The trip comes at a delicate moment for Trump’s presidency, the AP said, as his domestic standing has been strained by the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran and by rising inflation linked to the conflict. In Beijing, the administration is seeking trade gains, including arrangements involving American soybeans, beef and aircraft, and it hopes to create a “Board of Trade” with China to address differences between the two countries.
The AP reported that the last year’s trade war began after Trump’s tariff hikes, a move China countered by controlling rare earth minerals, which helped produce a one-year truce that began last October. Still, Iran was expected to remain the most prominent issue on Trump’s domestic agenda, even as the president sought to minimize China’s role in the conflict.
Trump told reporters Tuesday that he did not view Iran as a central item for U.S.-China talks. “We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control,” he said, according to the AP. The AP also noted that the Iran war has contributed to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, leaving tankers stranded and pushing energy prices higher, concerns that the AP said could affect global economic growth.
Taiwan also figures heavily in the discussions. China has said it is displeased with U.S. plans to sell weapons to Taiwan, which China regards as part of its territory, and the AP reported that Trump planned to discuss an $11 billion weapons package that the U.S. authorized in December but had not yet begun fulfilling. The AP described that package as the largest ever approved for Taiwan.
Trump has also signaled ambivalence toward Taiwan, raising questions about whether he might be open to reducing support for the island democracy, the AP said. At the same time, the AP reported that Taiwan’s chipmaking role is becoming even more important for artificial intelligence development, including through U.S. import patterns that have shifted toward Taiwan.
Ahead of Trump’s arrival, People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s news outlet, published a strongly worded editorial emphasizing that Taiwan is “the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations” and is “the biggest point of risk” between the two nations, the AP reported.
As Trump prepared for the meeting, he portrayed the relationship as stable. He also discussed the possibility that Xi would reciprocate with a visit to the U.S. later this year, and he said the White House ballroom under construction would not be completed in time to properly fete Xi.
While en route to Beijing, Trump posted on social media that one of his first requests to Xi would be to ask China to increase the presence of U.S. firms in China. The AP reported that despite Trump’s public confidence, China appears to be entering the talks from a stronger position, citing Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser on Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who said China wants to reduce tech restrictions related to computer chips and find ways to reduce tariffs. Kennedy said that even without major progress on those goals, China would come out stronger as long as there is no “blow-up” and Trump does not seek to re-escalate.
The AP also reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met on Wednesday to discuss economic and trade issues at Incheon International Airport near Seoul, according to Xinhua. Separately, the AP reported that Trump intends to raise a proposal for a nuclear arms pact among the U.S., China and Russia to set limits on each country’s nuclear arsenals, citing a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters ahead of the trip on condition of anonymity.