BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump met his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday morning, kickstarting a high-stakes summit that’s anticipated to cowl commerce, tariffs, Taiwan and Iran, and runs by Friday.
The connection between the 2 international locations goes to be “higher than ever earlier than,” Trump instructed Xi in his opening remarks, in keeping with official broadcast footage. Trump, who additionally visited China in 2017 in his first time period, mentioned the 2 leaders have identified one another personally for longer than another U.S. or Chinese language president.
Talking simply forward of Trump, Xi famous the worldwide consideration on the assembly, and mentioned a significant query for the 2 international locations was whether or not they may keep away from the “Thucydides Entice,” in keeping with an official English translation of his Chinese language remarks broadcast by CCTV.
The Thucydides Entice refers to how tensions traditionally between a rising and ruling energy have typically resulted in a battle. Graham Allison, the Harvard professor who popularized the idea, instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Field Asia” that he expects the commerce truce Trump and Xi reached at their assembly in South Korea final fall will change into a proper settlement.
“The large phrase will probably be stabilization,” Allison mentioned Thursday.
The 2 presidents wrapped up their first assembly after about an hour, together with a welcome ceremony, and are set to have a number of discussions by noon Friday.
Trump is anticipated to go to the Temple of Heaven, a historic landmark, within the afternoon, and attend a state banquet within the night.
“China comes into this assembly way more assured than in 2017, when it feared even a small rise in U.S. tariffs. Within the final 12 months, Xi has been capable of push again and neutralize a lot of Trump’s actions,” mentioned Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese language Enterprise and Economics on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research.
China was the primary main economic system to retaliate towards Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025.
“Though expectations are low and no grand cut price is probably going, the welcoming ceremony and preliminary remarks on the opening session spotlight how actually consequential this relationship is for the world,” Kennedy mentioned. “That is why everyone seems to be paying shut consideration and ready to seek out out what they focus on and determine on problems with commerce and safety.”
Xi is anticipated to reciprocate Trump’s journey with a go to to the U.S. The 2 leaders may additionally meet alongside APEC and G20 occasions in China and the U.S. late within the 12 months.
Earlier on Thursday, Xi walked down the steps of the Nice Corridor of the Folks in Beijing to shake arms with Trump, in keeping with official broadcast footage. The U.S. president first shook arms with Chinese language officers, adopted by Xi greeting the U.S. delegation.
China’s prime diplomat, Wang Yi and Zheng Shanjie, head of the financial planning company, had been among the many Chinese language representatives, the footage confirmed.
The U.S. contingent included Secretary of State Marco Rubio in addition to enterprise executives equivalent to Tesla‘s Elon Musk, Apple‘s Tim Prepare dinner and Nvidia‘s Jensen Huang. Pictures of the preliminary Xi-Trump assembly additionally confirmed U.S. Secretary of Struggle Pete Hegseth and his Chinese language counterpart Dong Jun had been additionally current.
