BEIJING — US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for highly anticipated talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the war with Iran, trade and US arms sales to Taiwan.
The summit will not be held until Thursday, when the leaders will hold bilateral talks and hold a state banquet. But the Chinese welcomed Trump warmly, rolling out the red carpet for him after Air Force One landed in the Chinese capital.
The President was received by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. Xie Feng, Chinese Ambassador to Washington; Ma Zhaoxu, Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs; As well as the US envoy to Beijing, David Perdue, according to the White House. The welcoming ceremony included a military honor guard, a military band, and about 300 young Chinese waving Chinese and American flags and chanting, “Hello, hello! A warm welcome!” As Trump made his way to the waiting limousine.
President Donald Trump walks during a welcome ceremony upon his arrival aboard Air Force One, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing.
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
“We are the two superpowers,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday for a long trip to Beijing. “We are the most powerful country on Earth militarily. China is second to none.”
While Trump likes to project a sense of strength, the visit comes at a sensitive moment in his presidency as his popularity at home has been affected by the US-Israel war with Iran and rising inflation as a result of that conflict. The Republican president is seeking to win by signing agreements with China to buy more US soybeans, beef and aircraft, saying he will talk with Xi about trade “more than anything else.”
The Trump administration hopes to begin the process of establishing a trade council with China to address differences between the two countries. The council could help prevent the trade war that broke out last year after Trump’s tariff hikes, a measure that China countered through its control of rare earth minerals. This led to a year-long truce last October.
But Trump visits Beijing when Iran continues to dominate his domestic agenda. The war led to the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz, stranding oil and natural gas tankers and causing energy prices to rise to levels that could sabotage global economic growth. The US President declared that Xi did not need help resolving the conflict, even though Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was in Beijing last week.
“We have a lot of things to discuss,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because Iran is very much under control.”
Taiwan is high on the agenda
Taiwan’s status will also be a major topic because China is upset with US plans to sell weapons to the self-governing island that the Chinese government claims is part of its territory.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he would discuss with Xi an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan that the US administration approved in December but has not yet begun implementing. The arms package is the largest ever approved for Taiwan.
But the US leader has shown greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, an approach that raises questions about whether Trump could be open to reversing support for democracy on the island.
Meanwhile, Taiwan – as the world’s leading chip maker – has become essential to the development of artificial intelligence, with the United States importing more goods from Taiwan so far this year than from China. Trump has sought to use Biden-era programs and his own deals to bring more chipmaking to America.
The People’s Daily newspaper, affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, published a strongly worded editorial before Trump’s arrival asserting that Taiwan is “the first red line that cannot be crossed in Sino-American relations” and is “the greatest point of danger” between the two countries.
Trump says the relationship with Xi is on a solid foundation
Trump was already portraying the trip as a success even before he left the White House. He spoke publicly about Xi’s scheduled reciprocal visit to the United States later this year, and expressed his regret that the White House ballroom under construction would not be completed in time to properly honor the Chinese leader.
“We will have a great relationship for many decades to come,” Trump said of the United States and China.
Trump took off on Air Force One for the big meeting with a group of aides, family members and titans of the business world, including Nvidia and Tesla’s Jensen Huang and SpaceX’s Elon Musk. While on his way to Beijing, he posted on social media that his “first request” from Xi during the visit would be to ask the Chinese leader to strengthen the presence of American companies in China.
“I will ask President Xi, a very distinguished leader, to ‘open up’ China so that these wonderful people can work their magic, and help take the People’s Republic to a higher level!” Trump, who is expected to receive a formal greeting upon his arrival in the Chinese capital on Wednesday evening, wrote.
Despite Trump’s outward confidence, China appears to be entering the meeting from a “much stronger place,” said Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser on China business and economic affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.
China wants to reduce technical restrictions on access to computer chips and find ways to reduce tariffs, among other goals.
“But even if they don’t get much on any of this, as long as there’s not an explosion in the meeting and President Trump doesn’t walk away looking to re-escalate, China will fundamentally come out stronger,” Kennedy said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent and Chinese Vice Premier He Leveng met on Wednesday to discuss economic and trade issues at Incheon International Airport, west of the South Korean capital Seoul, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Trump wants a three-way nuclear arms deal
Trump also intends to raise the idea of the United States, China and Russia signing an agreement that would set limits on the nuclear weapons each country maintains in its arsenal, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters ahead of the trip. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.
China had previously been cold toward entering into such an agreement. Beijing’s arsenal, according to Pentagon estimates, exceeds more than 600 operational nuclear warheads, and is far from on par with the United States and Russia, which are estimated to each possess more than 5,000 nuclear warheads.
The last nuclear weapons agreement, known as the New START Treaty, between Russia and the United States expired in February, removing any restrictions on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than half a century. As the treaty approached its expiration, Trump rejected Russia’s call to extend the agreement between the two countries for another year and called for a “new, improved, modern” agreement that includes China.
The Pentagon estimates that China has more than 600 nuclear warheads ready for use, and will have more than 1,000 by 2030.
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