Trump-Xi summit live: US president arrives in Beijing
Chinese state mouthpieces signal government's expectations and red lines
U.S. and Chinese flags flutter next to the portrait of late Chairman Mao Zedong at Beijing's Tiananmen Square on May 13, marking President Donald Trump's visit.
SHANGHAI/TOKYO -- U.S. President Donald Trump is making his first visit to China in nearly nine years, as the rival superpowers aim to stabilize their fraught relationship.
The American president arrived Wednesday evening and is scheduled to stay until Friday. An itinerary released by the White House includes plenty of face time with Chinese President Xi Jinping, from formal bilateral talks starting Thursday morning to a state banquet, tea and a working lunch.
Their discussions are expected to touch on a host of hot topics, such as the Iran war, trade and export controls, tensions over Taiwan, and artificial intelligence. Trump is bringing an entourage of corporate executives including Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook and NVIDIA's Jensen Huang. There are high expectations that the president will help seal commercial deals for aircraft and U.S. farm goods.
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7:50 p.m. Trump's plane touches down at Beijing Capital International Airport as darkness falls, a little later than expected. A U.S. president is on Chinese soil for the first time since 2017.
7:10 p.m. Live footage from Beijing shows a crowd of young Chinese dressed in light blue and white, waving Chinese and American flags and ready to welcome Trump. Air Force One is expected to land in around 20 minutes.
5:50 p.m. Trump appears to have picked a new venue for his stay in Beijing. His motorcade was seen arriving at the Four Seasons Hotel, according to media reports, ahead of his touchdown in the city. The hotel is located northeast of the Great Hall of the People, the venue for the scheduled bilateral meeting with Xi on Thursday. When Nikkei Asia called the hotel, a staff member said it was fully booked but did not confirm his stay.
Enhanced security protocols surrounding the area could cause disruptions for city residents. A map app showed that a car ride between the hotel and Great Hall would take more than an hour, about double the time on normal days. The Four Seasons is also notably further away than the St. Regis, the hotel for Trump's previous visit in 2017, which sits west of the Great Hall.
4:45 p.m. Setting the stage for the summit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held last-minute trade talks in South Korea with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang. China says they "conducted frank, in-depth, and constructive exchanges on resolving trade and economic issues of mutual concern and further expanding pragmatic cooperation."
4:30 p.m. Trump can expect a warm welcome, but the currency markets underscore the scope of China's ambitions to challenge U.S. hegemony. The Chinese yuan, or renminbi, was trading at around 6.79 per dollar on Wednesday, its highest level in more than three years.
"Most importantly, there is a tolerance from policymakers to allow the renminbi to gradually appreciate as a push for renminbi internationalization," said Rohit Arora, head of Asia FX and rates strategy at UBS.
Reducing dependency on the dollar, which dominates global trade including in oil, has long been a key goal for Chinese policymakers, as their economy relies heavily on exports for growth.
Arora said the dollar has been the sole safe haven currency during the Middle East crisis, but the yuan is serving as a "relative safe haven" among emerging market currencies. He expects that trend to continue, because policymakers have tightened management of the currency since 2023.
