{"id":12800,"date":"2026-05-13T13:40:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/13\/trump-arrives-in-beijing-for-talks-with-chinas-xi-on-iran-war-trade-and-us-arms-sales-to-taiwan-ap-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T13:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:40:33","slug":"trump-arrives-in-beijing-for-talks-with-chinas-xi-on-iran-war-trade-and-us-arms-sales-to-taiwan-ap-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/13\/trump-arrives-in-beijing-for-talks-with-chinas-xi-on-iran-war-trade-and-us-arms-sales-to-taiwan-ap-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump arrives in Beijing for talks with China&#8217;s Xi on Iran war, trade and US arms sales to Taiwan &#8211; AP News"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<p>BEIJING (AP) \u2014 U.S. President <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/span> arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for his hotly anticipated talks with Chinese President <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/xi-jinping\">Xi Jinping<\/a><\/span> on <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/iran\">the Iran war<\/a><\/span>, trade and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>The meat of the summit doesn\u2019t start until Thursday, when the leaders hold bilateral talks, visit the Temple of Heaven, where Chinese emperors once prayed for bumper crops, and take part in a formal banquet. But the Chinese offered Trump a pomp-filled welcome, literally rolling out the red carpet for him after Air Force One landed in the Chinese capital.<\/p>\n<p>The president was greeted by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng; Xie Feng, China\u2019s ambassador to Washington; Ma Zhaoxu, executive vice minister of foreign affairs; and the U.S. envoy to Beijing, David Perdue. <\/p>\n<div data-align-center>                      <bsp-figure>     <\/p>\n<figure data-openoverlay>              <a id=\"image-960000\"><\/a>                                      <picture data-crop=\"imgEn-medium-nocrop\"><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 600px)\" type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"767\" height=\"511\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 600px)\" width=\"767\" height=\"511\" ><source type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" ><source width=\"599\" height=\"399\" ><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)\"  fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/2602dc1\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5448x3632+0+0\/resize\/599x399!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F24%2Ff0%2F9bdc1cdf68512dfc81b33d65d947%2F97abeb91ae594fa7ae3f8dc0a80f112f\" loading=\"lazy\"> <\/picture>\n<div><bsp-read-more data-more-button-text=\"Read More\" data-less-button-text=\"Read Less\" data-expand=\"ReadMore-expand\" data-limit=\"110\" data-main-class=\"ReadMore\"><figcaption>\n<p>President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/bsp-read-more><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>          <template data-bsp-figure-overlay-template>                  <\/p>\n<div data-slidenumber=\"0\" data-slidescount=\"1\">                         <bsp-carousel-read-more data-show-less data-expand=\"ReadMore-expand\" data-main-class=\"ReadMore\" data-more-id data-less-id>                             <\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n<p>                         <\/bsp-carousel-read-more>                     <\/div>\n<p>     <\/template>      <\/bsp-figure>                  <\/div>\n<p>The welcoming ceremony included a military honor guard, a military band and some 300 Chinese youths waving Chinese and American flags and chanting, \u201cWelcome, welcome! Warm welcome!\u201d as Trump made his way to his waiting limousine. The youth greeters were decked out in white and robin\u2019s egg blue outfits that matched the paint job of the iconic presidential plane.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re the two superpowers,\u201d Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday for the long flight to Beijing. \u201cWe\u2019re the strongest nation on Earth in terms of military. China\u2019s considered second.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Trump likes to project a sense of strength, the visit occurs at a delicate moment for his presidency as <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ap.org\/news-highlights\/spotlights\/2026\/trumps-approval-on-economy-falls-in-ap-norc-poll-showing-new-warning-signs-for-president\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his popularity at home<\/a><\/span> has been weighed down by the U.S. and Israel\u2019s war with Iran and rising inflation as a consequence of that conflict. The Republican president is seeking a win by signing deals with China to buy more American soybeans, beef and aircraft, saying he\u2019ll be talking with Xi about trade \u201cmore than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration hopes to begin establishing a Board of Trade with China to address differences between the countries. The board could help prevent <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-xi-china-summit-trade-tariffs-2eee658298ba8f064fe232e8832bd2ea\">the trade war<\/a><\/span> ignited last year after Trump\u2019s tariff hikes, an action China countered through its control of rare earth minerals. That led to a one-year truce last October.<\/p>\n<p>But Trump is visiting Beijing when <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-visit-china-xi-iran-trade-diplomacy-75a27d595cfa5882b1e5bef917385309\">Iran continues to dominate<\/a><\/span> his domestic agenda. The war has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, stranding oil and natural gas tankers and causing energy prices to spike to levels that could sabotage global economic growth. The U.S. president declared that Xi didn\u2019t need to assist in resolving the conflict, even though Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Beijing last week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn\u2019t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control,\u201d Trump told reporters Tuesday.<\/p>\n<div data-align-center>                      <bsp-figure>     <\/p>\n<figure data-openoverlay>              <a id=\"image-f50000\"><\/a>                                      <picture data-crop=\"imgEn-medium-nocrop\"><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 600px)\" type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"767\" height=\"511\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 600px)\" width=\"767\" height=\"511\" ><source type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" ><source width=\"599\" height=\"399\" ><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"President Donald Trump walks during a welcome ceremony as he arrives on Air Force One, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)\"  fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/c11e364\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6000x4000+0+0\/resize\/599x399!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Ff8%2F79%2F7af0a62f84217af6c7ddb35f0252%2F7f028992a1a84730af3215bc60e36060\" loading=\"lazy\"> <\/picture>\n<div><bsp-read-more data-more-button-text=\"Read More\" data-less-button-text=\"Read Less\" data-expand=\"ReadMore-expand\" data-limit=\"110\" data-main-class=\"ReadMore\"><figcaption>\n<p>President Donald Trump walks during a welcome ceremony as he arrives on Air Force One, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/bsp-read-more><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>          <template data-bsp-figure-overlay-template>                  <\/p>\n<div data-slidenumber=\"0\" data-slidescount=\"1\">                         <bsp-carousel-read-more data-show-less data-expand=\"ReadMore-expand\" data-main-class=\"ReadMore\" data-more-id data-less-id>                             <\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump walks during a welcome ceremony as he arrives on Air Force One, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n<p>                         <\/bsp-carousel-read-more>                     <\/div>\n<p>     <\/template>      <\/bsp-figure>                  <\/div>\n<h2>Taiwan high on the agenda<\/h2>\n<p>The status of Taiwan also will be a major topic as China is displeased with U.S. plans to sell weapons to the self-governing island, which the Chinese government claims as part of its own territory.<\/p>\n<p>Trump told reporters on Monday that he would be discussing with Xi <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/taiwan-president-lai-china-arms-sales-us-2d980ade9a1a299682d9ba62470d0369\">an $11 billion weapons package<\/a><\/span> for Taiwan that the U.S. administration authorized in December but has not yet begun fulfilling. The arms package is the largest ever approved for Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>But Trump has <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-xi-taiwan-democracy-arms-semiconductors-5c6aed1f1628fee0d381ecbb1ff73d10\">demonstrated greater ambivalence toward Taiwan<\/a><\/span>, an approach that\u2019s raising questions about whether the U.S. leader could be open to dialing back support for <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/religion-government-and-politics-china-california-dadf001a4bf302b2b7bc82717aaa9af1\">the island democracy<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Taiwan \u2014 as <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/taiwan-trump-tariffs-economy-ai-tsmc-7527bd4bf3089cbd2dab1c530ee61c3e\">the world\u2019s leading chipmaker<\/a><\/span> \u2014 has become essential for the development of artificial intelligence, with the U.S. importing more goods so far this year from Taiwan than China. Trump has sought to use Biden-era programs and his own deals to bring more chipmaking to America.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese Communist Party\u2019s news outlet, People\u2019s Daily, published a strongly worded editorial ahead of Trump\u2019s arrival underscoring that Taiwan is \u201cthe first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations\u201d and is \u201cthe biggest point of risk\u201d between the two nations.<\/p>\n<h2>Trump says relationship with Xi is on solid footing<\/h2>\n<p>Trump was already portraying the trip as a success before he even left White House grounds. He openly mused about Xi\u2019s planned reciprocal visit to the U.S. later this year, lamenting that <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/senate-trump-white-house-ballroom-construction-4b9f101ea8c4861e81018ad5e6627626\">the White House ballroom<\/a><\/span> under construction would not be completed in time to properly fete the Chinese leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a great relationship for many, many decades to come,\u201d Trump said of the U.S. and China.<\/p>\n<div data-align-center>                      <bsp-figure>     <\/p>\n<figure data-openoverlay>              <a id=\"image-d20000\"><\/a>                                      <picture data-crop=\"imgEn-medium-nocrop\"><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 768px)\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 600px)\" type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"767\" height=\"511\" ><source media=\"(min-width: 600px)\" width=\"767\" height=\"511\" ><source type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" ><source width=\"599\" height=\"399\" ><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"President Donald Trump shakes hands during a welcome ceremony Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)\"  fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"599\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/06a05d0\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4681x3121+0+0\/resize\/599x399!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F6b%2F58%2F310054674da44a0f7783433b4d7e%2F5757b138f8384ea4be666573e746c19b\" loading=\"lazy\"> <\/picture>\n<div><bsp-read-more data-more-button-text=\"Read More\" data-less-button-text=\"Read Less\" data-expand=\"ReadMore-expand\" data-limit=\"110\" data-main-class=\"ReadMore\"><figcaption>\n<p>President Donald Trump shakes hands during a welcome ceremony Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/bsp-read-more><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>          <template data-bsp-figure-overlay-template>                  <\/p>\n<div data-slidenumber=\"0\" data-slidescount=\"1\">                         <bsp-carousel-read-more data-show-less data-expand=\"ReadMore-expand\" data-main-class=\"ReadMore\" data-more-id data-less-id>                             <\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump shakes hands during a welcome ceremony Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n<p>                         <\/bsp-carousel-read-more>                     <\/div>\n<p>     <\/template>      <\/bsp-figure>                  <\/div>\n<p>Trump embarked on Air Force One for the big meeting with a coterie of aides, family members and business world titans, including Nvidia\u2019s Jensen Huang and Tesla and SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk. While en route to Beijing, he posted on social media that his \u201cfirst request\u201d to Xi during the visit will be to ask the Chinese leader to bolster the presence of U.S. firms in China.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to \u2018open up\u2019 China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People\u2019s Republic to an even higher level!\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Trump\u2019s outward confidence, China appears to be entering the meeting from \u201ca much stronger place,\u201d said Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser on Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.<\/p>\n<p>China would like to reduce tech restrictions on accessing computer chips and find ways to reduce tariffs, among other goals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut even if they don\u2019t get much on any of those things, as long as there\u2019s not a blow-up in the meeting and President Trump doesn\u2019t go away and look to re-escalate, China basically comes out stronger,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met on Wednesday to discuss economic and trade issues at Incheon International Airport, just west of the South Korean capital of Seoul, according to the Chinese state run Xinhua News Agency.<\/p>\n<h2>Trump wants 3-way nuclear arms deal<\/h2>\n<p>Trump also intends to raise the idea of the U.S., China and Russia signing a pact that would set limits on the nuclear weapons each nation keeps in its arsenal, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters ahead of the trip. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House.<\/p>\n<p>China has previously been cool to entering such a pact. Beijing\u2019s arsenal, according to Pentagon estimates, exceeds more than 600 operational nuclear warheads and is far from parity with the U.S. and Russia, which each are estimated to have more than 5,000 nuclear warheads.<\/p>\n<p>The last <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-moscow-dmitry-medvedev-vienna-russia-233ecf6c9379085e3b6a70bc548a7e18\">nuclear arms pact<\/a><\/span>, known as the New START treaty, between Russia and the United States expired in February, removing any caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century. As the treaty was set to expire, Trump rejected a call by Russia to extend the two-country deal for another year and called for <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-us-putin-trump-nuclear-weapons-treaty-0e82c7fb5e5feca89a9c3f45d6f4feae\">\u201ca new, improved, and modernized\u201d deal that includes China<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon estimates China will have more than 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Boak reported from Washington. AP writers Darlene Superville in Washington, Huizhong Wu in Bangkok, Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BEIJING (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for his hotly anticipated talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the Iran war, trade and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. The meat of the summit doesn\u2019t start until Thursday, when the leaders hold bilateral talks, visit the Temple of Heaven, where Chinese [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}