US President Donald Trump departed for a high-stakes three-day visit to China on Tuesday, with trade expected to dominate talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while tensions over Iran are also likely to feature during the discussions.
Seventh Face-to-Face Meeting
The visit marks Trump’s seventh face-to-face meeting with Xi and the first trip by a US President to China since 2017. Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Trump expressed optimism about the visit and said the trip would strengthen ties between Washington and Beijing.
"We're going to have a great relationship for many, many decades to come. My relationship with President Xi is a fantastic one. We've always gotten along and we're doing very well with China. Working with China's been very good. So we look forward to it," Trump said.
He added, "You're going to see that good things are going to happen. This is going to be a very exciting trip."
Iran and Trade Discussions
When asked whether Xi could help broker a deal with Iran, Trump downplayed the need for Chinese assistance and reiterated his hardline stance on Tehran. "It might be. I don't think we need any help with Iran. They're defeated militarily, and they'll either do the right thing or we'll finish the job. They're either going to do the right thing or we're just going to finish the job," he said.
Trump also indicated that trade would remain the central issue during his talks with Xi. "We're going to be talking with President Xi about a lot of different things. I would say more than anything else will be trade," he said.
Delegation and First Lady
According to the White House, First Lady Melania Trump will not accompany Trump on the trip. Trump is travelling with a senior US delegation that includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel, Ambassador Jamieson Greer and Ambassador Monica Crowley.
Other officials aboard Air Force One include White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Beau Harrison, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, Communications Director Steven Cheung and Science and Technology Advisor Michael Kratsios. Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Ross Worthington and Walt Nauta are also part of the travelling entourage.
Earlier, a White House official said more than a dozen business and technology leaders representing major American companies across finance, defence, technology and consumer sectors would join the broader delegation during the visit.
