US President Trump Promises Xi A “Great Future” For US-China Relations

AP-Yonhap

Trump and Xi hold high-stakes Beijing talks on trade, Iran and Taiwan.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States and China had a “great future” ahead as he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for talks expected to cover a wide range of contentious global issues, including trade, Iran and Taiwan.

“It is an honour to be with you. It is an honour to be your friend, and relations between China and the United States will be better than ever,” Trump said during the meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, adding that the two countries shared “a great future”.

Xi, in turn, told Trump that China and the United States should be “partners, not rivals”, stressing that “cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both”. He said he was “pleased” to welcome Trump on his first visit to China since 2017, at a moment when “the world stands at a crossroads”.

The Chinese president also told American business leaders that China would continue opening its economy further to the world.

Xi greeted Trump at the Great Hall of the People and met several senior US officials, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, long regarded as a strong critic of Beijing.

Later in the evening, Xi is expected to host a state banquet in the same venue, while Trump is due to visit the historic Temple of Heaven, the UNESCO World Heritage site where Chinese emperors once prayed for prosperous harvests.

Trump arrived in China late on Wednesday aboard Air Force One for a two-day visit, accompanied by a delegation of influential business figures including Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, underlining the administration’s focus on trade and investment.

Musk described the talks as “fantastic”, while Huang said the two leaders were “remarkable”.

Securing new trade agreements in sectors such as agriculture and aviation is expected to top Trump’s agenda, with several leading executives participating in discussions.

Before departing Washington, Trump wrote on social media that he would urge Xi to “open up China” further so that American innovators could help elevate the Chinese economy “to an even higher level”.

However, efforts to strengthen economic ties between the world’s two largest economies remain complicated by disputes over Taiwan and the ongoing conflict involving Iran, which had earlier forced the postponement of the trip originally planned for March.

Speaking to reporters before leaving the White House, Trump said he expected to hold “extensive discussions” with Xi regarding Iran, which continues to sell most of its oil to China despite US sanctions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio adopted a firmer tone, saying Washington hoped to persuade Beijing to play “a more effective role” in urging Iran to halt its actions in the Gulf.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports, competition in artificial intelligence and broader trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Trump and Xi are reportedly set to consider extending the one-year truce agreed during their previous meeting in South Korea in October, amid an escalating trade dispute and reciprocal tariffs between the two countries.

Taiwan is also expected to feature prominently in the talks. Trump said earlier this week that he intended to raise the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan with Xi, marking a shift from Washington’s longstanding policy of not consulting Beijing on its support for the self-governing island, which China claims as its own territory and has vowed to retake by force if necessary.

Both sides are expected to seek diplomatic and economic gains from the summit while attempting to stabilise the increasingly strained relationship between Beijing and Washington, a relationship with far-reaching global consequences.

Trump is also said to be hoping to secure an agreement for Xi to visit the United States later in 2026, in a move aimed at highlighting the positive rapport between the two leaders.