Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
Donald Trump is heading to Beijing for high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as they seek to maintain a tentative trade truce while navigating Iran, Taiwan and dominance over global supply chains.
The Iran conflict could serve as a potential source of tension during talks. The US president has sought help from China, a close ally of Iran and the world’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to convince Tehran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and end the war. Trump’s first visit to China in nearly nine years had been delayed in the hopes that the US-Israeli war against Iran would be over, and it comes a week after Beijing flaunted its close ties with Tehran by hosting the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.
US president Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/ReutersFor China’s assistance, Xi will probably want something in return, and on top of his list is Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as part of its territory. Analysts say China wants the US to declare opposition to Taiwanese sovereignty and delay, or ultimately limit, arms sales to the island. Trump said yesterday that Washington’s longstanding support for Taiwan’s defence would be on his agenda for the Beijing summit. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion,” he told reporters. “That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.”
The two leaders’ last meeting in October paused a flurry of tit-for-tat trade tariffs in 2025. In February last year, Trump imposed 20% tariffs on China after accusing it of allowing the influx of the drug fentanyl into the US. China responded in kind, slapping tariffs of 15% on coals and liquefied natural gas imported from the US and 10% on oil and agricultural machines.
Trump is scheduled to land in the Chinese capital tomorrow night for the two-day summit. Alongside bilateral meetings, his schedule includes a tour of the Temple of Heaven, a state dinner on Thursday night and tea between the two leaders on Friday before he departs, according to reports.
