Trump and Xi, Together Again in Beijing For The First Time, Sorta

Donald Trump just landed in Beijing, finally kicking off a summit that the war with Iran had delayed for nearly two months. Trump wanted to have a settlement with Iran in order to focus on trade issues with Xi Jinping. Now, it appears that the war with Iran will likely have both leaders attempting to use it for leverage on other agenda items.

China’s government arranged a festive greeting for Trump and his entourage as they departed Air Force One:

JUST IN: China rolls out the red carpet for President Trump as he touches down in Beijing.

The visit marks a pivotal moment for U.S.-China relations as President Trump meets with their leadership to tackle trade and tension. pic.twitter.com/m9tAOfjL5u

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) May 13, 2026

It’s the first US presidential visit to China in almost nine years, when Trump paid a vist to Xi while embroiled in the Russiagate hoax. The Wall Street Journal gives a brief summary of the stakes involved in this summit for both nations: 

⁠⁠The U.S and China are locked in a trade war, but settled on a truce last year during a meeting between their leaders in South Korea. This Beijing summit is centered around improving the economic and trade relationship between the countries but the two leaders will also discuss thorny issues such as Iran and Taiwan. Publicly, Xi and Trump will seek to paper over their differences.

The U.S. is enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports, from which Tehran exports most of its oil to China. Xi has proposed a four-point plan for ending the conflict, which Iran has backed. …

Both men have different objectives for the summit. Trump is looking to broker economic and trade agreements, and Xi is hoping to resolve tensions with the U.S. while weakening American policy toward Taiwan.

Abbas Araghchi visited Xi last week to get China’s intervention in the war. The Iranians spent that time stalling on Trump’s 14-point ‘framework’ before sending back an absurd response that demanded the US recognize Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and pay “war reparations” before the IRGC regime would even consider talks on nuclear weapons. Trump blew up publicly at the response, but thus far has held off on re-initiating Project Freedom or any other direct hostilities, likely to ensure that the summit with Xi would not require another delay. 

The question at the moment will be who gets the most leverage out of the Iran standoff. Xi depends on cheap Iranian oil, and the blockade is doing real damage to China’s economy already. That may force Xi into a position where he needs to deliver what Trump wants: Iran’s highly enriched uranium. Or it might push Xi into taking a hard line on trade negotiations as a means to pressure Trump into backing down from the blockade.

Trump wants to offer Xi some carrots rather than sticks. He brought several CEOs along with him to Beijing to discuss expanding business opportunities for China, although there seemed to be some confusion as to who boarded Air Force One in the American media:

CNBC incorrectly reported that the Great Jensen Huang, of Nvidia, was not invited to the incredible gathering of the World’s Greatest Businessmen/women proudly going to China. In actuality, Jensen is currently on Air Force One and, unless I ask him to leave, which is highly unlikely, CNBC’s reporting is incorrect or, as they say in politics, FAKE NEWS! It is an Honor to have Jensen, Elon, Tim Apple, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzmann, Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Jane Fraser (Citi), Larry Culp (GE Aerospace), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), and many others journeying to the Great Country of China where 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! In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request. I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries! President DONALD J. TRUMP

The pitch: Dump the crazy mullahs and terrorists and do business with us instead. The problem for XI is that his economic model requires cheap energy; China can’t expand as much as Xi wants or needs on market-priced oil. Trump can argue that getting rid of the IRGC will unlock oil at much lower prices than before, especially with the US production levels hitting records, the UAE dumping OPEC, and Venezuela about to restart its massive production capabilities under American industrial leadership. 

Will it work? Xi wants China to become the dominant superpower, but that depends on either partnering with the US or an American government returning to the perhaps-benign neglect of the Obama and Biden administrations. Partnering with Iran impedes both of those outcomes; even if a Democrat succeeds Trump, there is no going back to the “Iran is not really a threat to the US” position of those years. Xi may decide that this is the right time to cut his losses in Tehran and play nice with the West for a while.

When Trump gets back on Air Force One, Ahmad Vahidi should start getting nervous.