Trump Arrives in Beijing for Summit With Xi Jinping

President Donald Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first visit to China by a sitting U.S. president in nearly nine years. Trump is traveling with more than a dozen U.S. business leaders including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Trump posted that Huang is aboard Air Force One with him, refuting earlier reports that Huang had been excluded from the trip.

The meetings are expected to cover trade, Taiwan, advanced semiconductors and the Iran conflict now in its third month. Trump has said he will ask Xi to “open up” China further to American firms. He told reporters he plans a “long talk” with Xi about the Iran war but that trade will be the main focus.

Trump said the current U.S.-Iran ceasefire is on “massive life support” but that only a good deal would be accepted. When asked about the domestic economic impact of the conflict, Trump said “I don’t think about American financial situation.” He has predicted that once the Iran war ends the stock market “will go through the roof” and inflation will fall sharply.

U.S. intelligence reports indicate Iran retains roughly 70 percent of its pre-war missile and launcher stockpile. The war has driven U.S. inflation to 3.8 percent in April, the highest since 2023, with the energy index rising 17.9 percent over the past year. Trump is scheduled to undergo a medical and dental checkup later this month ahead of his 80th birthday in June.

The summit occurs as the U.S. and China maintain a fragile tariff truce reached last autumn. Trump has long criticized China’s trade surplus with the United States. Beijing has opposed American export controls on advanced chips to China. Nvidia’s participation is viewed as particularly significant given those ongoing restrictions.

Both governments continue to seek economic cooperation even amid strategic rivalry.

Iran has set five confidence-building conditions before it will enter a second round of talks with the United States. Tehran has tightened its control over the Strait of Hormuz. A Chinese oil tanker recently tested safe passage through the strait. Trump has said he has “no need” for Xi’s help on the Iran war.

The dynamic between Trump and Xi will be tested during the meetings, which are not scheduled to begin until Thursday morning local time. Both sides have described the relationship as important despite recent frictions.

Taiwan remains a core point of contention. Beijing claims the self-governing democracy as its territory while the United States has sold arms to Taipei. Taiwan staged a live-fire drill on an island facing mainland China as Trump headed to Beijing. No publicly released evidence has documented any softening of U.S. support for Taiwan.

The state visit is the first by an American president in almost nine years.