BEIJING: US President Donald Trump is seeking trade wins when he meets Xi Jinping on Friday for the last day of a superpower summit, he says has already resulted in a Chinese offer to help open the Strait of Hormuz. The US leader is hoping to seal deals in sectors including agriculture, aviation, and artificial intelligence, as well as contain differences between the two sides in a number of tense geostrategic areas &mdash; not least the Middle East war. Trump&#39;s overtures to Xi, whom he described as a &quot;great leader&quot; and &quot;friend,&quot; have so far been met with more muted tones by the Chinese leader. But in an interview with Fox News after the first day of the summit wrapped, Trump said the talks in Beijing had gone well, saying Xi had agreed to several US wishlist points. On the topic of the war in Iran, the US president said Xi had effectively assured his counterpart that China was not preparing to militarily aid Tehran, which has essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz. &quot;He said he&#39;s not going to give military equipment ... he said that strongly,&quot; Trump told Fox. &quot;He&#39;d like to see the Hormuz Strait open, and said &#39;if I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help,&#39;&quot; Trump added. Deals to be struck? On Friday, Trump heads to Zhongnanhai, a central leadership compound next to Beijing&#39;s Forbidden City. There, he will have tea in the gardens with Xi and hope to turn the discussions to trade. In the Fox interview, Trump said one big business deal had already been struck, saying Xi had agreed to purchase &quot;200 big&quot; Boeing jets. Shares of the US aviation giant fell after Trump&#39;s comments, in a sign the market had expected a more robust purchase from China. The US president said Beijing had also voiced interest in buying US oil and soybeans. China, which is the key foreign customer of Iranian oil, bought small amounts of US oil before Trump imposed tariffs last year. It has sharply slowed down purchases of US soybeans, turning instead to Brazil. And Treasury Secretary Bessent told CNBC that Trump and Xi were talking about setting up &quot;guardrails&quot; for the use of artificial intelligence. Bessent said the world&#39;s &quot;two AI superpowers are going to start talking,&quot; though US export controls on the advanced technology to China remain a sore point in relations. Transcending the trap? Trump&#39;s visit to Beijing is the first by an American president in nearly a decade. On Thursday, Xi referenced the &quot;Thucydides Trap,&quot; a political theory referring to an increased likelihood of war when a rising new power competes with an established great power. Xi said, however, that he thought the United States and China could &quot;transcend&quot; this danger. Responding to the comments in a social media post in the early hours of Friday, Trump said Xi &quot;very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation.&quot; He insisted Xi was not referring to the United States under his watch, which he claimed was experiencing an &quot;incredible rise,&quot; but rather the country under his predecessor Joe Biden. &quot;Two years ago, we were, in fact, a Nation in decline,&quot; Trump posted on his Truth Social site. &quot;Now, the United States is the hottest Nation anywhere in the world, and hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before!&quot; He said that Xi &quot;congratulated me on so many tremendous successes.&quot;

China

Americas

The US leader is hoping to seal deals in sectors including agriculture, aviation and artificial intelligence, as well as contain differences between the two sides in a number of tense geostrategic areas — not least the Middle East war.

Trump to seek tangible trade wins in Xi summit

Web Desk

China's President Xi Jinping (L) looks at US President Donald Trump as they attend a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (AFP)

Middle East

US president says President Xi offered China's help to open the strait, pledges not to send military equipment to aid Iran; Iranian media reports that naval forces allowed Chinese ships to pass through Hormuz; Israel, Lebanon to open new round of peace talks in Washington.




Day 76: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

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.

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

BEIJING: US President Donald Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday for a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping aimed at easing deep tensions between the rival superpowers. Giving a fist pump, Trump descended the steps of Air Force One after touching down at Beijing Capital International Airport, kicking off the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade. Right behind him were Tesla boss Elon Musk and Nvidia chief Jensen Huang &ndash; potent symbols of the business deals that Trump hopes to sign between the world&#39;s biggest economies. Trump was greeted with a bunch of flowers and then walked along the red carpet, which was lined with 300 Chinese youth in white uniforms chanting &quot;welcome&quot; and waving small Chinese and US flags in unison. While en route to Beijing, Trump said on social media he would &quot;be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to &#39;open up&#39; China so that these brilliant people can work their magic&quot;. Nvidia&#39;s Huang was a surprise late addition to the trip, joining the plane at a stopover in Alaska. China is currently banned under US national security rules from buying the cutting-edge AI chips that the company produces. But&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-israel-war-on-iran-day-75" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iran</a>, trade and Taiwan, among other topics, loom over the highly anticipated meeting, which Trump had already delayed from March because of the war the United States and Israel started in the Middle East. China &#39;welcomes&#39; Trump visit Visiting China for the first time since 2017 during his previous term, Trump is expected to receive a lavish welcome from Chinese authorities. Trump and Xi will hold talks at 10:00 am local time on Thursday in Beijing&#39;s opulent Great Hall of the People. The US president will also visit the historic Temple of Heaven, a world heritage site where China&#39;s emperors once prayed for good&nbsp;harvest. The leaders will then enjoy a state banquet in the evening. On Friday, they are set to have tea and a working lunch before Trump heads home. As he departed the White House, Trump said he expected a &quot;long talk&quot; with Xi about the joint US-Israeli war with Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China. But he also downplayed disagreements, telling reporters that &quot;I don&#39;t think we need any help with Iran&quot; from China and that Xi had been &quot;relatively good&quot; on the topic. The Chinese foreign ministry said Wednesday it &quot;welcomes&quot; Trump&#39;s visit and that &quot;China stands ready to work with the United States... to expand cooperation and manage differences&quot;. Yet Beijing is growing impatient for peace, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi urging his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday to step up mediation efforts between Iran and the United States. &#39;Big deal&#39; 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, which the two leaders reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October, although a deal is far from certain. China&#39;s controls on rare earth and agriculture exports are also expected to be on the menu. The tense buildup to the summit was already visible on the streets of Beijing, with police monitoring major intersections and checking the ID cards of passengers on the metro, AFP journalists saw. &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.

Trump arrives in Beijing for a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping aimed at easing tensions, as both sides prepare to discuss trade, tariffs and geopolitical disputes between the superpowers.

Trump and Xi set for high-stakes talks in Beijing

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 "Trump-Xi Talks"

Trump to seek tangible trade wins in Xi summit

Day 76: All you need to know about US-Israel war on Iran

Trump and Xi meet for high-stakes talks in Beijing

Trump and Xi set for high-stakes talks in Beijing

Trump heads to China for superpower summit