Trump confirms May 14-15 Xi meeting, first US China visit in decade
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- Trump confirmed he will meet Xi Jinping in China on May 14-15, the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade (the last was November 2017, during Trump's first term).
- Trump postponed the trip — originally slated for March 31 — to manage US-Israel strikes on Iran that killed Iran's supreme leader, prompting Iran to attack Israel and US-allied Gulf states and effectively close the Strait of Hormuz, sparking a global fuel crisis.
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Xi 'understood and accepted' the postponement request and estimated combat operations would last 'approximately four to six weeks,' putting the end of that window right around the China trip.
- China's foreign ministry has not confirmed the specific dates; spokesperson Lin Jian said only that 'both sides are maintaining communication' and that 'leader-level diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role' in bilateral ties.
- Trump will also host Xi in Washington DC later this year, with officials 'finalizing preparations for these Historic Visits,' per Trump's Truth Social post.
- The last Trump-Xi meeting was in October in South Korea on the sidelines of the Apec summit; a Global Times editorial Thursday called the long absence of a US presidential visit to China 'abnormal,' saying 'both China and the US stand to gain from cooperation.'
Why it matters: The rescheduled May 14-15 meeting gives Trump and Xi their first in-person talks since October's Apec summit, with the four-to-six week combat-operations timeline Leavitt cited putting the end of the Iran conflict window just before the China trip. Both sides are framing the visit as a chance to ease trade friction, tech competition, and geopolitical tensions that have long defined the relationship.
