U.S. President Trump to pay state visit to China from May 13 to 15

U.S. President Donald Trump will pay an official visit to China from May 13 to 15 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced on Monday (May 11, 2026).

This will be the first visit to China by a U.S. president in almost nine years.

The visit comes in the midst of a prolonged U.S.-Israel war on Iran, a crisis over the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz causing a global energy crisis and the increasing tensions between the two countries over a host of issues, including Taiwan.

On Sunday (May 10, 2026), U.S. principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Mr. Trump would arrive in Beijing on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) evening for what she described as a “visit of tremendous symbolic significance”.

According to Ms. Kelly, the U.S. leader will attend a welcome ceremony and a bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping on Thursday (May 14, 2026), followed by a visit to the Temple of Heaven and a state banquet, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The two leaders will meet again on Friday (May 15, 2026) for a bilateral tea and working lunch, she said, adding that the U.S. planned to host the Chinese leader for a reciprocal visit later this year.

Both sides announced on Sunday (May 10, 2026) that Vice-Premier He Lifeng will travel to South Korea for trade talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on May 12 and 13 in the final round of negotiations before Mr. Trump’s visit.

Mr. Trump’s visit is also taking place amid expectations of a trade deal over tariffs between the top two economies clamped by the U.S. president.

The talks would be “guided by the important consensus” reached between the two heads of state at their meeting in Busan, South Korea, and in previous phone calls and address “economic and trade issues of mutual concern”, a Chinese Commerce Ministry statement said.