Donald Trump to travel to China next month
US President Donald Trump will travel to China late next month and set dates for the highly anticipated encounter amid tensions between the world’s largest economies, a White House official said.
Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of the visit, which has been extended from March 31 to April 2, the official said, at a time when the two sides are discussing whether to extend the trade truce that has paused tariff increases.
“This is going to be crazy,” Trump told foreign leaders on Thursday about his trip to China.
“We need to put on the largest exhibition you have ever seen in Chinese history.”
The visit will be the leaders’ first meeting since February and their first face-to-face visit since meeting in South Korea in October; Trump agreed to reduce tariffs on China in exchange for Beijing ending its illegal fentanyl trade, resuming purchases of U.S. soybeans and ensuring rare earth exports continue.
While the October meeting largely ignored the sensitive Taiwan issue, in February Xi increased US arms sales to the island.
Washington announced its largest-ever arms sales deal with Taiwan in December; That deal includes US$11.1 billion ($15.8 billion) in weapons that could ostensibly be used to defend against a Chinese attack. Taiwan expects more sales of this type.
China considers Taiwan to be its own territory, a view Taipei denies.
The United States has formal diplomatic ties with China but unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island’s most important arms supplier.
The United States is obligated by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.
According to Trump, Xi also said he would consider further increasing soybean purchases during their February meeting.
Soybeans are key because struggling U.S. farmers are a key domestic political constituency for Trump and China is the biggest consumer.
Although Trump has labeled China as the cause of many hawkish policy moves from Canada to Greenland to Venezuela, he has eased policy in key areas in the past few months, from tariffs on Beijing to advanced computer chips and drones.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will go to China next week to hold talks on political and economic relations as well as security issues.
It will be his first visit to the country since taking office.
Merz will be welcomed with military honors by Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Wednesday, followed by a joint lunch.
He is scheduled to have a one-on-one meeting with President Xi in the afternoon.
Trade tensions between Berlin and Beijing are increasing, especially over rare earth elements.
German and European manufacturers have reported shortages of these materials due to China’s restrictive trade policies.
with DPA
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