Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to travel to Washington for a state visit and a high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump. The trip, which will be Xi's second state visit to the US, follows his first in 2015. The upcoming visit has raised expectations that the two presidents will complete reciprocal visits within months. This development comes as China-US relations have experienced turbulence over the years.
During his visit to Beijing in May, Xi hosted Trump and posed three key questions: Can China and the US overcome their differences and create a new paradigm for major-country relations? Can they work together to address global challenges and provide stability for the world? Can they build a bright future for their bilateral relations, benefiting both nations and humanity? These questions reflect Xi's emphasis on finding a way for the world's two major countries to coexist.
The Beijing summit gave renewed momentum to efforts to improve China-US relations. Xi and Trump have agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability over the next three years and beyond. According to Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University, this marks the first time in over a decade that China and the US have established a consensus on defining their relationship.
Head-of-state diplomacy has been crucial in maintaining China-US relations. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that head-of-state diplomacy is the anchor of China-US relations. Since Trump's re-election, Xi has maintained contact with him through various means, including face-to-face meetings and phone calls. During the May visit, Xi invited Trump to Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound in central Beijing, for a private meeting.
Economic and trade relations have been a significant aspect of China-US relations. Xi has often likened China-US relations to a giant ship that requires ballast to stay on course. Following the surge of US tariffs in 2025, Beijing responded with countermeasures while continuing negotiations with Washington. By the time Xi and Trump met in Beijing, their economic and trade teams had reached "generally balanced and positive outcomes."
Xi has repeatedly stressed that there is no winner in a trade war and that decoupling and cutting off supply chains will not hold back China's development process. He has also engaged with the American business community, meeting with representatives from US business, strategic, and academic communities in Beijing in March 2024. During the May visit, Xi sat down with Trump alongside executives from prominent US companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, and Boeing.
As Xi prepares for his US visit, he has emphasized the importance of people-to-people relations in fostering sound state-to-state relations. In a recent letter to American university students, Xi encouraged them to promote greater mutual understanding and affinity between people of the two countries. The youth, he believes, carry the future and hope of this relationship, and he sees them as key to steady and sustained development of bilateral relations.
Key points
- Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit US for state talks with President Donald Trump
- Xi and Trump agree on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability
- Economic and trade relations remain crucial for China-US relations, with both sides seeking to manage differences and prevent escalation.
