Trump’s China visit plans moved forward on Wednesday, as Donald Trump headed to Beijing for the first visit by a US president to China in nearly a decade, with trade, Taiwan, and Iran set for talks.
Trump left Washington on Tuesday and said he expected a “long talk” with Chinese President Xi Jinping about Iran, which relies on China as a major buyer of its US-sanctioned oil.
The US president played down differences over Iran, saying Xi had been “relatively good” and that Washington did not need Beijing’s help. He said the United States would “win it peacefully or otherwise.”
The trip, Trump’s first China visit since 2017, includes high-stakes talks with Xi on Thursday and Friday, along with a state banquet and a tea reception.
Trump said Monday he would discuss US arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by China. The remark marked a departure from Washington’s historic stance that it does not consult Beijing on support for Taiwan.
China’s rare earth export controls and the countries’ trade relationship are also expected to feature in discussions between the world’s two largest economies.
Security was visible in Beijing on Tuesday, with police monitoring major intersections and checking metro passengers’ ID cards, AFP journalists reported. A traveller from Nanjing told AFP she expected progress and hoped China and the United States could support “lasting peace.”
The visit comes as Beijing and Washington maintain a one-year tariff-war truce reached at Trump and Xi’s meeting in October in South Korea.
