Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed US President Donald Trump with a handshake on Thursday in Beijing for a superpower summit on thorny issues including Iran, trade and Taiwan.
- +PHOTOS: Trump meets Xi at Beijing summit as trade, Iran tensions, others rise
Xi greeted Trump at the opulent Great Hall of the People at just past 10:00 am (0200 GMT), a grand reception that belies the deep tensions between the world’s biggest economies.
Xi greeted Trump at the opulent Great Hall of the People at just past 10:00 am (0200 GMT), a grand reception that belies the deep tensions between the world’s biggest economies. The motorcade carrying US President Donald Trump arrives for a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
Accompanied by Trump, Xi shook hands with several US officials, including Pentagon Peter Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was known throughout his career as a fierce opponent of Beijing.
Trump and Xi stood in the centre as a Chinese military band played The Star-Spangled Banner and then the Chinese national anthem as cannons fired.
Jumping schoolchildren in brightly coloured outfits waving US and Chinese flags chanted “welcome, welcome” 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’s emperors once prayed for good harvest. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (bottom centre L), US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (bottom centre R), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (bottom 2nd R), Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (second row R),senior advisor Stephen Miller (bottom L), Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (C second row) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (centre L middle row) attend a welcome ceremony for US President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
The US president arrived for the two-day summit on Air Force One late Wednesday accompanied by top CEOs, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Tesla’s Elon Musk – symbols of business deals Trump hopes to reach.
Top of Trump’s wish list will be business deals on agriculture, aircraft and other topics, with a host of top businessmen in the US leader’s delegation.
Aboard Air Force One en route to Beijing, Trump vowed on social media to push Xi to “open up” China to US firms “so that these brilliant people can work their magic”. China’s President Xi Jinping (4th L) and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (5th L) meet with US President Donald Trump and his delegation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
But Trump is dealing with a different and more emboldened China to the one he visited nine years ago, with a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
The Iran war in particular has threatened to weaken Trump’s position in talks with Xi, having already forced him to postpone it from March.
The US president said he expected a “long talk” with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China, but insisted that “I don’t think we need any help with Iran” from Beijing.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a somewhat different tone.
“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,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told broadcaster Fox News in an interview aired Wednesday.
The long-simmering trade war between the two countries will also be top of the agenda, after Trump’s sweeping tariffs last year triggered tit-for-tat levies that exceeded 100 percent.
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. US President Donald Trump (R) and China’s President Xi Jinping (L) greet children waving Chinese and US national flags and flowers during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
On Taiwan, another issue that has bedevilled ties, Trump said Monday he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to the self-governing democracy claimed by China.
That would be a departure from historic US insistence that it will not consult Beijing on its support for the island, and one which will be closely watched by Taipei and US allies in the region.
China’s controls on rare earth exports, AI rivalry and the countries’ raucous trade relationship are also among the topics expected to be taken up by the two heads of state.
Both sides will be looking to come out of the summit with whatever wins they can, while also stabilising an often tense relationship between Beijing and Washington that has global implications.
Trump will also be hoping to leave with a firm date for a reciprocal visit by Xi to the United States later in 2026, to prove his rapport with his Chinese counterpart.
