“We are two superpowers,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday.
BEIJING, China — President Donald Trump will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a much-anticipated summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a time of unease in a world fraught with war, trade and artificial intelligence.
“We are two superpowers,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday. “Military-wise, we are the most powerful country on earth. China is considered second.”
While Trump likes to project a sense of power, the visit comes at a delicate moment in his presidency, as His popularity in the country The U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran and rising inflation resulting from the conflict have put pressure on the country. The president is seeking victory by signing deals with China to buy more U.S. food and aircraft and said he would discuss trade with Xi “more than anything else.”
The Trump administration hopes to start the process of establishing a “trade council” with China to resolve differences between the two countries. The committee could help prevent a trade war that sparked last year after Trump raised tariffs and China fought back by taking control of rare earth mines. This led to a year-long layoff last October.
But when Trump came to Beijing, Iran continues to dominate his domestic agenda. The war effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, stranded oil and gas tankers, and sent energy prices soaring to levels that could undermine global economic growth. The US president declared that Xi Jinping did not need to help resolve the conflict, even though Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Beijing last week.
“We have a lot of things to discuss. Honestly, I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them because we’ve got Iran pretty well under control,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
Taiwan and trade high on agenda
Taiwan’s status also appears to be a major topic, as China is unhappy with U.S. plans to sell arms to Taiwan, which the Chinese government claims as part of its territory.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he would discuss with Xi Jinping an $11 billion Taiwan weapons program that the U.S. government approved in December but has not yet begun implementation.
The U.S. leader has shown a more ambivalent attitude towards Taiwan, an approach that has raised questions about Trump’s willingness to reduce his support for Taiwan’s democracy.
Meanwhile, Taiwan, the world’s leading chipmaker, is critical to the development of artificial intelligence, and the United States has imported more goods from Taiwan than China so far this year. Trump is trying to leverage the Biden-era plan and his own deal to bring more chip manufacturing to the United States.
The Chinese Communist Party’s news outlet People’s Daily published a strongly worded editorial on Tuesday, emphasizing that Taiwan is “the first insurmountable red line in Sino-US relations” and the “biggest risk point” between the two countries.
Trump says relationship with Xi Jinping is on solid foundation
But Trump had already painted the visit as a success before leaving the White House. He publicly mused on Xi Jinping’s planned reciprocal visits to the U.S. and lamented Banquet hall under construction will not be completed in time.
“We’re going to have a great relationship for decades to come,” Trump said of the United States and China. “As you know, President Xi is going to be here at the end of the year. So it’s going to be exciting. I just hope we can get the ballroom finished.”
Trump said he had spoken with the Chinese leader and the meeting would be “positive” as he boarded Air Force One with a coterie of aides, family members and business tycoons, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk.
Trump posted on social media as he flew to Beijing that his “first request” to Xi during his visit would be for the Chinese leader to increase the presence of U.S. companies in China.
“I am asking President Xi Jinping, an exceptional leader, to ‘open up’ China and let these talented people work their magic and help the People’s Republic of China move to the next level!” wrote Trump, who is expected to receive a formal ceremonial greeting when he arrives in the Chinese capital on Wednesday night.
Scott Kennedy, senior adviser on China business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said that despite Trump’s apparent confidence, China appeared to be coming into the meeting from “a stronger place.”
Among other goals, China wants to reduce technological restrictions on access to computer chips and find ways to reduce tariffs.
“But even if they don’t get a lot of progress on these things, as long as there’s no bickering at the meeting and President Trump doesn’t leave and seek to re-escalate, China will basically become stronger,” Kennedy said.
Trump wants three-way nuclear arms deal
Trump also intends to raise the idea of the United States, China and Russia signing an agreement that would limit the nuclear weapons in each country’s arsenal, according to a senior Trump administration official who briefed reporters ahead of the visit. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with ground rules set by the White House.
Previously, China had been lukewarm about signing such an agreement. Beijing’s nuclear arsenal has more than 600 operational warheads, according to Pentagon estimates, far from comparable to that of the United States and Russia, which are each estimated to have more than 5,000 warheads.
The last nuclear weapons treaty between Russia and the United States, New START, expired in February, lifting caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than half a century. With the treaty set to expire, Trump rejected Russia’s call to extend the agreement between the two countries for another year and called for a “new, improved and modernized” agreement that would include China.
The Pentagon estimates that China has more than 600 active nuclear warheads and will have more than 1,000 by 2030.
Bock reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Wu Huizhong in Bangkok also reported.
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