The high-level talks will focus on “rebalancing the relationship” between Washington and Beijing, the White House has said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that US President Donald Trump will pay a state visit to Beijing from May 13 to 15, the first such trip in nearly nine years.
The summit had initially been planned for late March but was postponed due to the US-Israeli war on Iran, which disrupted global energy markets following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Principal deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly described the trip as one of “tremendous symbolic significance” that would focus on “rebalancing the relationship with China and prioritizing reciprocity and fairness to restore American economic independence.”
The US president will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, and the two leaders are expected to meet again on Friday for a tea session and working lunch.
Last month, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Washington was seeking to preserve stability in bilateral ties while securing continued access to Chinese rare earth minerals essential for American industry.
A senior US official told reporters on Sunday that Washington may also try to pressure Beijing over purchases of Iranian oil and Tehran’s acquisition of potential dual-use goods.
China, which has rejected Washington’s “unilateral” sanctions targeting Iran’s oil sector, has repeatedly called for the war to end. Trump’s visit comes just a week after Beijing hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
The path to the summit was paved by a temporary trade truce reached in South Korea last October after Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods climbed as high as 145%. Beijing responded by restricting exports of rare earths critical to US industry and military production, forcing several American factories to suspend operations.
Image credit: Rafik Wahba
