BEIJING — President Trump shook hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Wednesday to kick off a historic summit between the world’s two most powerful heads of state.
Trump and Xi stood shoulder-to-shoulder outside China’s Great Hall of the People, a massive Communist Party showpiece overlooking Tiananmen Square, during the lavish arrival ceremony.
The handshake marks the seventh face-to-face between Trump and Xi and the pair’s first meeting in China since November 2017.
Trump and Xi are expected to lead bilateral talks between the two delegations inside the Great Hall for roughly two hours.
The president, who is traveling with about dozen CEOs, including SpaceX and Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook and NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, and has pledged to call on Xi to “open up” China to American business as his “very first request.”
“I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday night.
The meeting comes as the two global superpowers have sought to iron out tensions over recent years.
Last year, Trump slapped massive tariffs on China, which fluctuated frequently and at one point soared into triple digits. During that time, the two economic giants traded barbs, with China imposing restrictions on rare earth exports and the US stopping advanced chip sales that Beijing could use to give it a key boost in the artificial intelligence race.
US investment in China also plunged dramatically.
Despite all that, Trump has frequently highlighted his positive relationship with Xi, and the two countries have made progress on a trade framework aimed at cooling down tensions.
Also on the president’s agenda for this week’s visit are artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons, and human rights — including the imprisonment of tycoon Jimmy Lai, who founded a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, and Pastor Ezra Jin, a pastor with American family members who was also arrested.
Trump is also expected to discuss the Iran war.
“The Chinese have ships stuck in the Persian Gulf,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity ahead of the meeting. “A Chinese cargo got hit over the weekend. I’m sure Iran didn’t do it deliberately but they did it, it happened. And so that’s why these Chinese ships are stuck in there.”
Rubio argued, “It’s in [China’s] interest to resolve this.”
“We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they’re doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf.”
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Lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have accused China of propping up Iran by providing critical intelligence and funding through oil purchases.
However, Trump has largely dismissed those concerns, telling reporters Tuesday of Xi: “I think he’s been relatively good [on Iran], to be honest with you.”
Meanwhile, Xi is expected to push Trump to tone down US support for Taiwan, a longstanding flashpoint in the US-China relationship.
After the bilateral meeting, Trump will head back to his Beijing hotel and return to the Great Hall later in the evening for a state banquet with Xi.
Trump’s visit to China was postponed from early April due to the ongoing war with Iran.
The president will meet with his Chinese counterpart again on Friday before flying back to Washington.
Trump received a red-carpet welcome at Beijing Capital International Airport earlier Wednesday by US Ambassador to China David Perdue; Xi’s vice president, Han Zheng; China’s Ambassador to Washington Xie Feng; and Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu.
The official party was accompanied by a military band and honor guard, as well as 300 youths singing a welcome message and waving American and Chinese flags in time to the band’s music.
Trump greeted the crowd with his signature fist pumps.
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