Trump’s high-stakes China visit set for May 13-15 amid geopolitical tensions: Top issues to watch

President Donald Trump is set to visit China for high-stakes talks with President Xi Jinping as scheduled on May 13-15, confirmed by the Chinese government.

The international community is closely watching this highly-anticipated meeting between two global superpowers currently at the crossroads regarding key issues.

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As reported by Reuters, the leaders of the world’s two largest economies will discuss many issues spanning trade, Iran conflict, AI & technology, nuclear weapons and critical minerals deal, according to the US officials supervising Trump’s state visit to China. Trump will arrive in Beijing on Wednesday and talks are set to take place on Thursday and Friday. Since 2017, the visit to China will be Trump’s first one.

Key areas in focus

Trade related agreements

When it comes to US- China, trade disputes lie at the heart of this thorny diplomatic relationship. The meeting follows a Supreme Court ruling that restricted Trump’s authority to impose certain tariffs.

While a "tariffs truce" was agreed upon last year, a permanent resolution to the trade dispute has not been reached.

The Trump administration is expected to pressure Beijing into buying more US goods, specifically targeting the soybean and aircraft parts industries.

China’s strong position in terms of expanding its export base can change the equation of talks. For instance, despite weakened ties with the US, China’s exports have hit record levels due to shifts towards new global trading partners.

In the upcoming meeting, the two countries are also expected to announce the establishment of "Board of Trade" and "Board of Investment" to facilitate mutual business.

China is also expected to buy Boeing airplanes, as well as American agricultural and energy products.

AI and robotics

When it comes to the competitive technological landscape, China is not lagging. Beijing is aggressively investing in robotics and home-grown advanced chips, thereby reducing its reliance on US-based tech giants like Nvidia.

ByteDance has announced plans on Saturday to boost infrastructure spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure this year in a major push to dominate the competitive AI landscape.

The spending is expected to surge by 25 percent to 200 billion yuan or $29.4 billion.

The US is seeking to establish a specific “channel of communication” regarding the use of AI models, aiming to prevent future conflicts arising from its use.

"What that looks like is yet to be determined, but we want to take this ​opportunity with the leaders meeting to open up a conversation and to see if we should establish a channel of communication ​on AI matters," said ⁠one of the officials.

Rare earth minerals

In the Trump-Xi summit, the officials will also discuss a possible extension of the current truce, allowing rare earth minerals to flow from China to the US.

"It doesn't expire yet," the official told reporters. "I'm confident we'll announce any potential extension at the appropriate time."

While the deal hasn't expired yet, there is confidence it will eventually be renewed.

Iran conflict

It is also expected that these talks will also touch upon the issues which have been a source of conflict between US and China: Iran conflict, Taiwan issue and nuclear arms.

The US is pressing China to use its influence over Iran and Russia to end the conflicts.

“The ‌president has ⁠spoken multiple times with General Secretary Xi Jinping about the topic of Iran and about the topic of Russia, to include the revenue that China provides to both those regimes, as well as dual-use goods, components and parts, not to mention the potential of weapons exports. I expect that conversation to continue,” said one of the officials.

As reported by BBC, there is a little possibility that the Iran war will hover around the Trump-Xi Summit. China will refrain from taking any step against Iran as Beijing is the major importer of Iranian oil.

Given its dependency on Iranian crude oil, the US imposed sanctions on China’s refinery, Hengli Petrochemical, for importing billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil in April.

Later in May, China stepped up its resistance to the US sanctions over Iranian oil.

In a recent move of resistance, China’s Commerce Ministry not only instructed companies not to comply with US’ blacklisting of several Chinese refineries over import of Iranian oil, but also invoked “blocking rule” for the first since 2021.

Taiwan issue

Tensions remain high as Beijing claims the island as part of its mainland territory, while the US maintains its role as Taiwan's primary arms supplier. The US indicated its policy on Taiwan will not change.

Nuclear arms

The US has always expressed a desire to open a dialogue on nuclear arms control, but Chinese officials have been reluctant over this issue. Now there is a high possibility that China's stance will not change over the nuclear issue even in this summit.