President Trump landed in Beijing on Wednesday for two days of meetings with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in the first trip to China by a U.S. president since Mr. Trump visited in 2017 during his first term.
The balance of power between the United States and China has shifted in the years since then. Last year China forced the United States to back down from steep tariffs by limiting Chinese exports of minerals that U.S. industry needs.
Trump’s global ambitions also have been somewhat hobbled by his struggle to secure a peace deal with Iran.
Mr. Trump descended the stairs from Air Force One at Beijing’s Capital International Airport just after 8 p.m. and was greeted by China’s vice president, Han Zheng, and other officials, as well as a military honor guard. Men and women dressed in blue and white waved Chinese and American flags.
The meetings were expected to begin on Thursday morning in Beijing, which will be late Wednesday night in Washington.
Mr. Trump was joined on the trip by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, along with a delegation of business leaders that includes Elon Musk of Tesla, Jensen Huang of the chip giant Nvidia and Tim Cook, the soon-to-retire chief of Apple.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is also part of the U.S. delegation, was the chief negotiator with China during the preparations for the talks, an indication of how central trade and economic issues are expected to be in the coming days.
Anton Troianovski writes about American foreign policy and national security for The Times from Washington. He was previously a foreign correspondent based in Moscow and Berlin.
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