U.S. President Donald Trump (R) is greeted by Chinese language President Xi Jinping on the Nice Corridor of the Individuals on Could 14, 2026 in Beijing, China. The journey by Trump is concentrated on commerce, regional safety, and strengthening bilateral ties between the world’s two largest economies.
China Pool | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump met his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday morning, kickstarting a high-stakes summit that runs via Friday.
The connection between the 2 international locations goes to be “higher than ever earlier than,” Trump instructed Xi in his opening remarks, in accordance with official broadcast footage. Highlighting their relationship, Trump stated the 2 leaders have identified one another personally for longer than some other U.S. or Chinese language president.
Talking simply forward of Trump, Xi famous the worldwide consideration on the assembly, and stated a serious query for the 2 international locations was whether or not they might keep away from the “Thucydides Entice,” in accordance with an official English translation of his Chinese language remarks broadcast by CCTV.
Thucydides Entice refers to how tensions traditionally between a rising and ruling energy have typically resulted in battle. Graham Allison, the Harvard professor who popularized the idea, instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Field Asia” that he expects the commerce truce Trump and Xi reached at their assembly in South Korea final fall will change into a proper settlement.
“The massive phrase might be stabilization,” Allison stated Thursday.
The 2 presidents wrapped up their first assembly after about an hour, together with a welcome ceremony, and are set to have a number of discussions via noon Friday.
Afterward Thursday, Trump is anticipated to go to the Temple of Heaven historic landmark within the afternoon, and attend a state banquet within the night.
Iran, Taiwan and synthetic intelligence are among the many many matters the 2 sides are anticipated to debate, on prime of tariffs and uncommon earths. The final time a sitting U.S. president visited China was in 2017.
On Thursday, Xi walked down the steps of the Nice Corridor of the Individuals in Beijing to shake arms with Trump, in accordance with official broadcast footage. The U.S. president first shook arms with Chinese language officers, adopted by Xi greeting the U.S. delegation.
China’s prime diplomat, Wang Yi and Zheng Shanjie, head of the financial planning company, had been among the many Chinese language representatives, the footage confirmed.
The U.S. contingent included Secretary of State Marco Rubio in addition to enterprise executives corresponding to Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook dinner and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
Photographs of the preliminary Xi-Trump assembly additionally confirmed U.S. Secretary of Struggle Pete Hegseth and his Chinese language counterpart Dong Jun had been additionally current.

