Trump heads to Beijing for summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping

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President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One May 12, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump left for Beijing on Tuesday for a highly anticipated summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

Trump and Xi meet in a two-day summit on May 14-15. Trump’s trip was initially delayed so he could help direct the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. The United States and Israel launched their attacks on Iran on February 28.

RELATED: US-China trade war resumes as both sides impose new tariffs

The meeting between Xi and Trump is shaping Beijing’s approach to the Iran conflict, even as the world’s top importer of crude oil, dependent on the Middle East for half its fuel, seeks to protect its energy supplies.

Although Trump’s trip to China had been planned for months, it began to fall apart when he pressured Beijing and other world leaders to use military force to protect the Strait of Hormuz.

Citing Chinese state media, Reuters noted that the United States and China expressed willingness to “promote the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations.”

Why is Trump going to China?

What’s next:

President Donald Trump’s visit to China is seen as an opportunity to shore up a delicate trade truce between the United States and China, but it has become complicated in Trump’s attempt to find a solution to the Iran war.

Reuters reported that the meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be narrow in focus, avoiding topics such as AI governance and market access.

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After pressing China and other countries to send warships to secure access to Middle East oil, Trump indicated in March that his travel plans depended on Beijing’s response, while explaining at the time that the United States did not need help from allies who had rejected his request.

Reuters reported that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports poses a direct and growing threat. China participated in diplomatic activities and refrained from sharply criticizing Trump’s conduct of the war so that the summit could take place.

In April, Xi addressed the war in Iran with a four-point peace plan calling for maintaining peaceful coexistence, national sovereignty, the international rule of law and balancing development and security.

CEOs and top executives join Trump in China

Local perspective:

A White House official told Reuters that more than a dozen CEOs and senior executives would join the U.S. delegation to the president. Donald⁠Trump in China.

The companies include:

• Apple (Tim Cook)
• Blackrock (Larry Fink)
• Black Stone (Stephen Schwarzman)
• Boeing (Kelly Ortberg)
• Cargill (Brian Sikes)
• Citi (Jane Fraser)
• Cisco (Chuck Robbins)
• Consistent (Jim Anderson)
• GE Aerospace (H Lawrence Culp)
• Goldman Sachs (David Salomon)
• Illumina (Jacob Thaysen)
• Mastercard (Michael Miebach)
• Meta (Dina ​Powell ⁠McCormick)
• Micron (Sanjay Mehrotra)
• Qualcomm (Cristiano Amon)
• Tesla/SpaceX (Elon Musk)
• Visa (Ryan⁠McInerney)

US sanctions China ahead of summit

Dig Deeper:

The Associated Press reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently called on China to use its influence to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

On May 8, the State Department announced it was sanctioning four entities, including three China-based companies, for providing sensitive satellite imagery enabling Iranian military strikes against U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department has moved to target Chinese oil refineries accused of buying oil from Tehran, as well as oil shippers. According to the AP, the sanctions exclude the organizations from the U.S. financial system and punish anyone who does business with them.

Beijing called the sanctions “unlawful unilateral pressure” and enacted a blocking law that prohibits any Chinese entity from recognizing or complying with the sanctions.

China and the United States want to avoid a return to a tariff war

Overview:

On May 11, President Donald Trump downplayed differences with China over Iran and reiterated Xi’s desire to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened. “He would like to see it happen,” Trump said of the Chinese leader.

The Associated Press reported that Xi also has many reasons not to let differences over Iran affect other facets of the relationship.

China imports about half of its crude oil and nearly a third of its natural gas from Middle Eastern countries affected by the strait closure, the AP reported, referring to China’s General Administration of Customs.

In April, Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on China after reports that Beijing was preparing to deliver a shipment of new air defense systems to Iran, but he later walked away from the threat.