US President Donald Trump arrived in China’s capital and was welcomed with a ceremony replete with pomp and pageantry for the start of a high-stakes visit carrying global consequences, as the world’s two largest economies frame their trade relationship. After Trump’s first night in Beijing, he will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss a range of thorny issues including tech, trade, and Taiwan. The US-Israeli war with Iran, and the ensuing global energy crisis, looms over the trip.
Trump is being accompanied on the trip by a group of executives from some of America’s most valuable companies, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia boss Jensen Huang. On Thursday, Trump is scheduled to participate in a welcome ceremony and hold a bilateral meeting with Xi, before touring the historic Temple of Heaven and attending a state banquet. He will leave China on Friday following tea and a working lunch with Xi. The high-stakes talks between the two leaders are expected to cover tariffs, rare earths, AI, the Iran war, and Taiwan.
Trump has said he plans to press Xi to use China’s leverage over Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil chokepoint whose closure has driven up energy prices globally and prompted Modi’s own austerity call back in India. Some US officials, however, are wary that Xi holds the stronger hand in these meetings — particularly on Taiwan, where China is expected to push hard for limits on US arms sales. A series of trade agreements on aerospace, agriculture, and energy are expected to be announced before Trump departs.
