BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed US President Donald Trump with a handshake in Beijing on Thursday for a superpower summit. Xi greeted Trump at the Great Hall of the People at just past 10:00 a.m. (0200 GMT). Accompanied by Trump, Xi shook hands with several US officials, including Pentagon Peter Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump and Xi stood in the center as a Chinese military band played The Star-Spangled Banner, then the Chinese national anthem, as cannons fired. Jumping schoolchildren in brightly colored outfits waving US and Chinese flags chanted &quot;welcome, welcome&quot; as Trump and Xi walked past them in the square. The two leaders will also enjoy a state banquet at the hall in the evening, and Trump will visit the historic Temple of Heaven, a World Heritage site where China&#39;s emperors once prayed for a good harvest. The US president arrived for the two-day summit on Air Force One late Wednesday, accompanied by top CEOs, including Nvidia&#39;s Jensen Huang and Tesla&#39;s Elon Musk -- symbols of business deals Trump hopes to reach. The trip to Beijing marks the first by a US president in nearly a decade, following Trump&#39;s visit in 2017. &#39;Big hug&#39;&nbsp;At the top of Trump&#39;s wish list will be business deals in agriculture, aircraft and other areas, with a host of top US businessmen in the US leader&#39;s delegation. Aboard Air Force One en route to Beijing, Trump vowed on social media to push Xi to &quot;open up&quot; China to US firms &quot;so that these brilliant people can work their magic.&quot; The US president said he expected a &quot;long talk&quot; with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China, but insisted that &quot;I don&#39;t think we need any help with Iran&quot; from Beijing. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a somewhat different tone. &quot;We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they are doing now, and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf,&quot; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told broadcaster Fox News in an interview aired Wednesday. Tariff truce?&nbsp;The long-simmering trade war between the two countries will also be top of the agenda, after Trump&#39;s sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100%. Trump and Xi are set to discuss extending a one-year tariff truce that the two leaders reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October, though a deal remains far from certain. China&#39;s controls on rare earth exports, AI rivalry and the countries&#39; trade relationship are also among the topics expected to be taken up by the two heads of state. Trump will also hope to leave with a firm date for Xi&#39;s reciprocal visit to the United States later in 2026.

China

Americas

The two leaders shook hands after Trump arrived in a motorcade to the steps, where a US delegation including State Secretary Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and business CEOs including Elon Musk awaited him.

Trump and Xi meet for high-stakes talks in Beijing

Web Desk/AFP

Middle East

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BEIJING:&nbsp;Donald Trump was due in Beijing Wednesday on the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade, as he seeks to ramp up trade. Leaving Washington on Tuesday on a trip that was delayed by his war, <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/china-confirms-trumps-visit-this-week" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trump</a> said he expected a &quot;long talk&quot; with counterpart&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/china-us-to-exchange-views-on-major-issues-during-trump-visit" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Xi Jinping</a> about Iran. But he also played down disagreements on Iran, saying that Xi has been &quot;relatively good, to be honest with you&quot;. &quot;I don&#39;t think we need any help with Iran. We&#39;ll win it one way or the other. We&#39;ll win it peacefully or otherwise,&quot; Trump told reporters as he left the White House. This week&#39;s trip -- the first since Trump visited in 2017 -- will involve high-stakes talks with Xi on Thursday and Friday, during a packed itinerary that includes a state banquet and tea reception. China&#39;s controls on rare earth exports and the countries&#39; trade relationship are among the topics expected to be taken up by the heads of the world&#39;s top two economies. The buildup to the superpower summit was already visible Tuesday on the streets of Beijing, with police monitoring major intersections and checking the ID cards of passengers on the metro, AFP journalists saw. &#39;Definitely a big deal&#39;&quot;It&#39;s definitely a big deal,&quot; said Wen Wen, a 24-year-old woman travelling from the eastern city of Nanjing, when asked by AFP about Trump&#39;s visit. &quot;Some progress will certainly be made,&quot; she said, noting that she hopes China and the United States can ensure &quot;lasting peace&quot; despite &quot;recent instability in the global situation&quot;. Trade ties between Beijing and Washington have been fraught in recent years. The two sides are currently maintaining a one-year truce in their tariff war reached at Trump and Xi&#39;s last meeting in South Korea in October. China&#39;s major surplus in trade with the United States has long irked Trump, who slapped tariffs on the country&#39;s goods during his first term in office. Trump will be accompanied in China by a large group of top US business executives, including Tesla&#39;s Elon Musk and Apple&#39;s Tim Cook, the White House has said. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&#39;Positive results&#39;</h2>For Li Jiahao, 30, who manages a Beijing karaoke bar, the summit will not necessarily solve all problems in China-US relations -- though he is hoping for &quot;positive results&quot;. &quot;Coming here and actually resolving the issues are two different things,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;China and the United States both have responsibilities as major powers,&quot; he said, adding that &quot;only through friendship can we achieve mutual development and become stronger&quot;. The war in Iran -- launched by the United States and Israel on Feb. 28 -- has presented new challenges in the already-complicated relationship between Beijing and Washington. The US Treasury Department on Monday sanctioned 12 individuals and entities -- including several based in Hong Kong -- it said facilitated sale and shipment of Iranian oil to China. Asked about the latest moves on Tuesday, Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for Beijing&#39;s foreign ministry, said that &quot;China firmly opposes illegal unilateral sanctions&quot;.

Asia

China's controls on rare earth exports and the countries' trade relationship are among the topics expected to be taken up by the heads of the world's top two economies.

Articles tagged with "President Trump's China Visit"

Trump and Xi meet for high-stakes talks in Beijing

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Trump heads to China for superpower summit