- Trump’s trip to Beijing is set for 14-15. May, says the White House.
- Xi understood the reason for the delay, says Trump’s spokesman.
- Trump is looking forward to the China visit being ‘a monumental event’.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in May in his first visit to China in eight years, a closely watched trip postponed due to the ongoing war in Iran.
Trump’s effort to reschedule the trip reflected the Republican president’s eagerness to project confidence in a challenging Middle East war while managing a tense relationship between the world’s largest economies.
Originally scheduled to travel next week, Trump will now visit Beijing on May 14 and 15, he said in a Truth Social post Wednesday. Trump added that he would host Xi for a reciprocal visit to Washington later this year.
“Our representatives are finalizing preparations for these historic visits,” Trump said. “I very much look forward to spending time with President Xi in what I am sure will be a monumental event.”
China’s embassy said it had no information to provide about the announcement of the visit. Beijing usually does not outline Xi’s schedule more than a few days in advance.
The long-planned trip — and Washington’s broader efforts to restore ties in the Asia-Pacific region — have repeatedly been overtaken by events.
In February, the Supreme Court curtailed the US president’s power to impose tariffs, a source of leverage for Trump in negotiations with the US’s third-largest trading partner. Later that month, Trump’s joint military operation with Israel against Iran introduced a new point of tension with Beijing, Tehran’s biggest oil buyer.
Trump’s last trip to China, in 2017, was the most recent by a US president. Trump’s visit in May will be the leaders’ first face-to-face talks since an October meeting in South Korea where they agreed to a trade truce.
The White House says Xi understands Trump’s reasons for the delay
The two-day trip will combine the lavish pomp and circumstance that has become a hallmark of Trump’s foreign trips with hard-nosed diplomacy.
While the two sides could strike goodwill deals in Beijing on trade in agriculture and aircraft parts, they are also expected to discuss areas of deep tension such as Taiwan, where little progress is expected.
Trump has dramatically increased US arms sales to Taiwan during his second term. The moves have angered Beijing, which claims the democratically-ruled island as its own territory.
It is also not clear whether the war with Iran, which has rocked the global economy, will be settled by the time of the Xi-Trump meeting.
Trump has sought support from the world’s biggest oil consumers, including China, to help counter Iran’s efforts to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s request for assistance so far has been largely rebuffed. China, which imported about 12 million barrels of oil a day during the first two months of 2026, the most in the world, has not responded directly to his request.
Asked whether the war could be wound down in time for the China trip, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that “we’ve always estimated about four to six weeks. So you could work that out.”
Leavitt also said Trump and Xi talked about rescheduling the trip and that Xi understood the reasons for doing so.
“President Xi understood that it is very important for the president to be here during these combat operations right now,” she said.
