Trump arrives in Beijing for high-stakes economic talks

U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, commencing high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The two world leaders are expected to discuss Taiwan, trade, the war with Iran, and the case of Jimmy Lai before Trump leaves on Friday. Trump last visited China in 2017. More than a dozen top American executives, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook, joined Trump on the trip. So did Jensen Huang, the president and CEO of chipmaker Nvidia, despite earlier reports that the Taiwan-born executive would not attend.

What did Trump say ahead of his departure? Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Trump said the two leaders will have a great meeting and that good things will come from it. He added that he and Xi will talk about trade more than anything else. Trade between the two countries has been affected by tariff escalations.

When initially asked if he and Xi planned to discuss the war with Iran, Trump said they would have a long talk about it. He characterized Xi as being relatively good regarding the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. But minutes later, he told reporters he and Xi have a lot of items to discuss, and Iran wasn’t one of them. Trump said the United States has Iran under control. Iran’s foreign minister visited China last week.

Then while en route to China, Trump posted that his first request to Xi would be for China to expand opportunities for U.S. businesses within the foreign country.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher’s report as he talks with political scientist Hunter Baker about what to expect from the Beijing visit.