Trump’s trip to meet Xi Jinping in China rescheduled for May due to war in Iran | Donald Trump

Donald Trump will meet Xi Jinping in May during the US president’s first visit to China in eight years, a trip that has been closely watched. postponed because of the Iran war.

Trump was initially scheduled to travel next week, but will now visit Beijing on May 14 and 15, he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. Trump said he would host the Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit in Washington later this year.

Trump wrote: “Our representatives are finalizing preparations for these historic visits. I very much look forward to spending time with President Xi in what I am sure will be a monumental event.”

The Chinese embassy said it had no information to offer about the visit. Beijing usually gives details of Xi’s schedule only a few days in advance.

The long-scheduled trip – and Washington’s broader effort to improve relations in the Asia Pacific region – was repeatedly overtaken by events.

In February, the Supreme Court curtailed the US president’s power to impose tariffs, a source of leverage for Trump in negotiations with the US’s third-largest trading partner.

The launch of Trump’s joint military operation with Israel against Iran on February 28, setting up a new point of tension with Beijing, Tehran’s main oil buyer.

Trump’s last trip to Chinain 2017, the most recent was by a US president. Trump’s visit in May will be the first in-person talks between the two leaders since an October meeting in South Korea where they agreed on a trade deal.

The two-day trip will combine the lavish pomp and circumstance that has become a hallmark of Trump’s trips abroad with hard-nosed diplomacy.

While the two sides could strike goodwill deals in Beijing on trade in agriculture and aircraft parts, they are also expected to discuss areas of deep tension such as Taiwan, where little progress is expected.

Trump dramatically increased US arms sales to Taiwan during his second term. The moves have angered Beijing, which claims the democratically-ruled island as its own territory.

It is not clear whether the war with Iran, which has rocked the world economy, will be settled by the time of the Xi-Trump meeting.

Trump has sought support from the world’s major oil consumers, including China, to counter Iran’s efforts to close the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s request for assistance so far has been largely rebuffed. China, which imported about 12 million barrels of oil daily during the first two months of 2026, the most in the world, did not respond directly to your request.

Asked Wednesday if the war could end in time for the trip to China, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said: “We’ve always estimated about four to six weeks. So you can do the math on that.”

Leavitt also said Trump and Xi had talked about rescheduling the trip and that Xi understood the reasons for it. “President Xi understood that it is very important for the president to be here right now during these combat operations,” she said.