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Donald Trump has said China’s President Xi Jinping would soon visit the US, marking the strongest hint yet about a summit at a time when the economic superpowers are locked in a deepening trade war.
Speaking during a visit to Washington’s Kennedy performing arts centre on Monday, Trump said that the Chinese leader would be “coming in the not too distant future”.
The potential summit would mark a significant diplomatic moment for the two geopolitical rivals, and could help provide multinational companies and investors a sense of how tough a stance Trump intends to take on relations towards China.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment about whether Washington and Beijing had started holding talks about a summit. The Chinese embassy in the US also did not reply to a request for comment.
Trump has already launched a fresh trade war with Beijing — following the battle in his first term — by imposing a 20 per cent tariff on imports from China. Beijing retaliated by slapping tariffs on roughly $22bn in US goods, aimed at America’s farming sector.
China has not issued public remarks about a meeting between the two leaders since Trump took office in January. Trump invited Xi to attend his inauguration, but Beijing sent vice-president Han Zheng in his place.
Trump met Xi several times during his first term, including a high-profile visit to Beijing. Their first meeting was at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2017, just months after Trump took office.
Christopher Johnson, a former top CIA China analyst, said a near-term visit would be “a coup” for Trump. But he said Xi was unlikely to agree unless there was a secret bilateral channel that gave him confidence to risk a visit.
“Xi’s every instinct is militating against a visit too soon. He concluded his early visit to Mar-a-Lago in Trump’s first term was a mistake,” said Johnson, who heads China Strategies Group, a consultancy.
Johnson said it was risky because Xi does not know the outcome of the China-related trade study that Trump has ordered to be complete by April 1. “He seems content for now to let Trump run up the tariffs with no clear off-ramp to teach him that China is not Canada, Mexico or Panama,” he said.
Xi is expected to meet dozens of chief executives from the US and other countries next week following the China Development Forum, a high-profile event where executives can engage with top Chinese officials.
Steve Daines, a Montana Republican senator who is close to Trump, will attend the Beijing forum, in a rare move by a US politician that he hopes will lead to a meeting with Xi on behalf of the American president. The Financial Times last week reported that Daines wanted to be designated as a presidential envoy to facilitate a meeting with Xi — which the senator’s office denied.
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