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Chinese person Xi Jinping welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump with a handshake connected Thursday (May 14, 2026) successful Beijing for a superpower acme connected thorny issues including Iran, commercialized and Taiwan.
Mr. Xi greeted Mr. Trump astatine the opulent Great Hall of the People astatine conscionable past 10:00 a.m. (0200 GMT), a expansive reception that belies the heavy tensions betwixt the world's biggest economies.
Accompanied by Mr. Trump, Mr. Xi shook hands with respective U.S. officials, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who was known passim his vocation arsenic a fierce hostile of Beijing.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi stood successful the centre arsenic a Chinese subject set played The Star-Spangled Banner and past the Chinese nationalist anthem arsenic cannons fired.
Jumping schoolchildren successful brightly coloured outfits waving U.S. and Chinese flags chanted "welcome, welcome" arsenic Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi walked past them successful the square.
The 2 leaders volition besides bask a authorities banquet astatine the hallway successful the evening, and Mr. Trump volition sojourn the historical Temple of Heaven, a World Heritage tract wherever China's emperors erstwhile prayed for bully harvest.
The U.S. President arrived for the two-day acme connected Air Force One precocious connected Wednesday (May 13) accompanied by apical CEOs, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Tesla's Elon Musk — symbols of concern deals Mr. Trump hopes to reach.
The travel to Beijing marks the archetypal by a U.S. President successful astir a decade, aft Mr. Trump visited successful 2017, accompanied — dissimilar this clip — by his woman Melania.
‘Big hug’
Top of Mr. Trump's privation database volition beryllium concern deals connected agriculture, craft and different topics, with a big of apical businessmen successful the U.S. leader's delegation.
Aboard Air Force One en way to Beijing, Mr. Trump vowed connected societal media to propulsion Mr. Xi to "open up" China to U.S. firms "so that these superb radical tin enactment their magic".
But Mr. Trump is dealing with a antithetic and much emboldened China to the 1 helium visited 9 years ago, with a big of unresolved commercialized and geopolitical tensions betwixt the 2 countries.
The Iran warfare successful peculiar has threatened to weaken Mr. Trump's presumption successful talks with Mr. Xi, having already forced him to postpone it from March.
The U.S. President said helium expected a "long talk" with Mr. Xi astir Iran, which sells astir of its U.S.-sanctioned lipid to China, but insisted that "I don't deliberation we request immoderate assistance with Iran" from Beijing.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a somewhat antithetic tone.
"We anticipation to person them to play a much progressive relation successful getting Iran to locomotion distant from what they are doing now, and trying to bash present successful the Persian Gulf," Mr. Rubio told broadcaster Fox News in an interrogation aired Wednesday (May 13).
Tariff truce?
The long-simmering commercialized warfare betwixt the 2 countries volition besides beryllium apical of the agenda, aft Mr. Trump's sweeping tariffs past twelvemonth triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100%.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are acceptable to sermon extending a one-year tariff truce, which the 2 leaders reached during their past gathering successful South Korea successful October, though a woody is acold from certain.
On Taiwan, different contented that has bedevilled ties, Mr. Trump said connected Monday (May 11) helium would talk to Mr. Xi astir U.S. arms income to the self-governing ideology claimed by China.
That would beryllium a departure from historical U.S. insistence that it volition not consult Beijing connected its enactment for the island, and 1 which volition beryllium intimately watched by Taipei and U.S. allies successful the region.
China's controls connected uncommon world exports, AI rivalry and the countries' raucous commercialized narration are besides among the topics expected to beryllium taken up by the 2 heads of state.
Both sides volition beryllium looking to travel retired of the acme with immoderate wins they can, portion besides stabilising an often tense narration betwixt Beijing and Washington that has planetary implications.
Mr. Trump volition besides beryllium hoping to permission with a steadfast day for a reciprocal sojourn by Mr. Xi to the United States aboriginal successful 2026, to beryllium his rapport with his Chinese counterpart.
