Trump set to meet with Xi in Beijing as war and inflation weigh on his
presidency
[May 13, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI, WILL WEISSERT and JOSH BOAK
BEIJING (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to arrive in Beijing on
Wednesday for his highly anticipated summit with Chinese leader Xi
Jinping at a restless moment for a world worried about war, trade and
artificial intelligence.
“We're the two superpowers,” Trump told reporters as he departed the
White House on Tuesday. “We're the strongest nation on Earth in terms of
military. China’s considered second.”
While Trump likes to project a sense of strength, the visit occurs at a
delicate moment for his presidency as his popularity at home has been
weighed down by the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran and rising inflation
as a consequence of that conflict. The president is seeking a win by
signing deals with China to buy more American food and aircraft, saying
he'll be talking with Xi about trade “more than anything else.”
The Trump administration hopes to begin the process of establishing a
“Board of Trade” with China to address differences between the
countries. The board could help prevent the trade war ignited last year
after Trump's tariff hikes, an action China countered through its
control of rare earth minerals. That led to a one-year truce last
October.
But Trump comes to Beijing at a time when Iran continues to dominate his
domestic agenda. The war has led to the effective closure of the Strait
of Hormuz, stranding oil and natural gas tankers and causing energy
prices to spike to levels that could sabotage global economic growth.
The U.S. president declared that Xi didn’t need to assist in resolving
the conflict, even though Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in
Beijing last week.
“We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them,
to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control,"
Trump told reporters Tuesday.
Taiwan and trade are high on the agenda
The status of Taiwan also appears to be a major topic as China is
displeased with U.S. plans to sell weapons to the self-governing island
that the Chinese government claims as part of its own territory.
Trump told reporters Monday that he would be discussing with Xi an $11
billion weapons package for Taiwan that the U.S. administration
authorized in December but has not yet begun fulfilling.
The U.S. leader has demonstrated greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, an
approach that’s raising questions about whether Trump could be open to
dialing back support for the island democracy.
At the same time, Taiwan — as the world's leading chipmaker — has become
essential for the development of AI, with the U.S. importing more goods
so far this year from Taiwan than China. Trump has sought to use
Biden-era programs and his own deals to bring more chipmaking to
America.
The Chinese Communist Party's news outlet, People's Daily, published a
strongly worded editorial on Tuesday underscoring that Taiwan is “the
first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations” and is
“the biggest point of risk” between the two nations.
Trump says relationship with Xi is on solid footing
But Trump was already portraying the trip as a success before he left
White House grounds. He openly mused about Xi's planned reciprocal visit
to the U.S., lamenting that the ballroom under construction would not be
completed in time.
“We’re going to have a great relationship for many, many decades to
come,” Trump said of the U.S. and China. “As you know, President Xi will
be coming here toward the end of the year. So that would be exciting. I
only wish we had the ballroom finished.”
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President Donald Trump waves from the stairs of Air Force One as he
boards upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, May 12,
2026, for a trip to China to meet President Xi Jinping. (AP
Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
Trump said he had spoken with the Chinese leader and the meeting
would be “positive" as he embarked on Air Force One with a coterie
of aides, family members and business world titans, including
Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk.
Trump, as he flew to Beijing, posted on social media that his "first
request" to Xi during the visit will be to ask the Chinese leader to
bolster the presence of U.S. firms in China.
“I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary
distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can
work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even
higher level!” wrote Trump, who is expected to receive a formal
ceremonial greeting when he arrives in the Chinese capital on
Wednesday evening.
Despite Trump’s outward confidence, China appears to be entering the
meeting from “a much stronger place," said Scott Kennedy, a senior
adviser on Chinese business and economics at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
China would like to reduce tech restrictions on accessing computer
chips and find ways to reduce tariffs, among other goals.
“But even if they don’t get much on any of those things, as long as
there’s not a blow-up in the meeting and President Trump doesn’t go
away and look to re-escalate, China basically comes out stronger,”
Kennedy said.
Trump wants a three-way nuclear arms deal
Trump also intends to raise the idea of the U.S., China and Russia
signing a pact that would set limits on the nuclear weapons each
nation keeps in its arsenal, according to a senior Trump
administration official who briefed reporters ahead of the trip. The
official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set
by the White House.
China has previously been cool to entering such a pact. Beijing's
arsenal, according to Pentagon estimates, exceeds more than 600
operational nuclear warheads and is far from parity with the U.S.
and Russia, which each are estimated to have more than 5,000 nuclear
warheads.
The last nuclear arms pact, known as the New START treaty, between
Russia and the United States expired in February, removing any caps
on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a
half-century. As the treaty was set to expire, Trump rejected a call
by Russia to extend the two-country deal for another year and called
for “a new, improved, and modernized” deal that includes China.
The Pentagon estimates China has more than 600 operational nuclear
warheads and will have over 1,000 by 2030.
___
Boak reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu
in Bangkok contributed reporting.
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