US President Trump arrives in Beijing for two-day summit with Xi Jinping

US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for his highly anticipated summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a restless moment for a world worried about war, trade and artificial intelligence.

“We're the two superpowers,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday. “We're the strongest nation on Earth in terms of military. China’s considered second.”

While Trump likes to project a sense of strength, the visit occurs at a delicate moment for his presidency as his popularity at home has been weighed down by the US and Israel's war with Iran and rising inflation as a consequence of that conflict. The president is seeking a win by signing deals with China to buy more American food and aircraft, saying he'll be talking with Xi about trade “more than anything else.”

The Trump administration hopes to begin the process of establishing a Board of Trade with China to address differences between the countries. The board could help prevent the trade war ignited last year after Trump's tariff hikes, an action China countered through its control of rare earth minerals. That led to a one-year truce last October.

But Trump comes to Beijing at a time when Iran continues to dominate his domestic agenda. The war has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, stranding oil and natural gas tankers and causing energy prices to spike to levels that could sabotage global economic growth. The US president declared that Xi didn’t need to assist in resolving the conflict, even though Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Beijing last week.

“We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control," Trump told reporters Tuesday.

Taiwan

The status of Taiwan also appears to be a major topic as China is displeased with US plans to sell weapons to the self-governing island that the Chinese government claims as part of its own territory.

Trump told reporters Monday that he would be discussing with Xi an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan that the US administration authorized in December but has not yet begun fulfilling.

The US leader has demonstrated greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, an approach that’s raising questions about whether Trump could be open to dialling back support for the island democracy.

At the same time, Taiwan — as the world's leading chipmaker — has become essential for the development of AI, with the US importing more goods so far this year from Taiwan than China. Trump has sought to use Biden-era programs and his own deals to bring more chipmaking to America.

The Chinese Communist Party's news outlet, People's Daily, published a strongly worded editorial on Tuesday underscoring that Taiwan is “the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations” and is “the biggest point of risk” between the two nations.

Tech

But Trump was already portraying the trip as a success before he left White House grounds. He openly mused about Xi's planned reciprocal visit to the US, lamenting that the ballroom under construction would not be completed in time.

Trump said he had spoken with the Chinese leader and the meeting would be “positive" as he embarked on Air Force One with a coterie of aides, family members and business world titans, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk.

Trump, as he flew to Beijing, posted on social media that his "first request" to Xi during the visit will be to ask the Chinese leader to bolster the presence of US firms in China.

“I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!” wrote Trump, who is expected to receive a formal ceremonial greeting when he arrives in the Chinese capital on Wednesday evening.