President Donald Trump touched down in Beijing Wednesday for his long-anticipated summit with President Xi Jinping. The two are expected to discuss Taiwan — on which the United States has maintained an unwavering stance in support of the East Asian island — and trade amid rising tensions between the two countries over Iran. The talks come against the backdrop of stalled negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Trump entered his second term promising a far more aggressive approach to China, and his sweeping tariffs that sent the global economy into a tailspin also prompted retaliatory measures from Beijing. The two countries smoothed tensions at a summit in Busan, South Korea, in 2025, but many issues remain unresolved.

Trump is expected to press Xi on Chinese support for Tehran, including supplying the Iranians with dual-use components, potential weapons transfers and the purchase of crude oil that provides revenue to the regime.

U.S. officials acknowledged that the administration does not trust China on sensitive issues such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and China’s nuclear program. Despite extensive communication on those issues, officials said the government has made little progress with Beijing.

On the economic front, the executives from major corporations, such as Apple, Boeing, Tesla, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, traveled with Trump for the purpose of hammering out trade agreements alongside strategic ones.

Trump hopes to establish a U.S.–China “Board of Trade” that will cover trade pacts on less sensitive sectors, such as space and agriculture. A possible deal may include an exchange of rare earth metals with agricultural products and aircraft.