Top U.S. and Chinese negotiators will hold final preparatory talks in Washington from Saturday (September 19, 2026), including on tariffs, ahead of President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the United States for a summit with his counterpart Donald Trump, the Commerce Ministry in Beijing said.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will lead a delegation to Washington from September 19 to 23, where the two sides will discuss economic and trade issues of mutual concern, guided by the consensus reached by Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump, the Ministry said.

The talks come ahead of Mr. Xi’s expected visit to Washington next week. Although Beijing is yet to officially announce the trip, U.S. media reports have said that Mr. Xi is expected to arrive on September 23 and meet Mr. Trump the following day.

Mr. Trump plans to accord a rare airport reception to Mr. Xi by personally receiving him on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews when the Chinese President arrives, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported earlier.

The two leaders last met in Beijing in May during Mr. Trump’s visit, when they held talks aimed at improving ties between the world’s two largest economies.

Vice Premier He is set to hold talks with the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on a wide range of issues, including tariffs and artificial intelligence.

Mr. Bessent confirmed the talks, saying he looked forward to meeting Vice Premier He and continuing their “very good private discussions”.

The talks assume significance in the immediate backdrop of Mr. Trump signing a new sanctions bill to impose 100% tariffs on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India.

Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law on Friday (September 18, 2026). The law authorises expanded sanctions and tariffs targeting Russia and countries that buy its energy exports.

China has rejected U.S. attempts to impose tariffs over its purchases of Russian oil and gas, saying normal trade cooperation between countries should not be subject to interference by third parties.

“China engages in normal economic and trade cooperation with other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters on Thursday (September 17, 2026).

“Such cooperation does not target any third party and shall be free from disruption or coercion from any third party. China opposes long-arm jurisdiction and unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law and lack UN Security Council mandate,” he said.

Despite the tariff threat, Washington and Beijing are also negotiating a reciprocal tariff reduction framework covering products worth $30 billion from each side, China’s Commerce Ministry said.

The consultations aim to reach a reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement at the earliest possible date, ministry spokesperson Huang Ling said.

Ahead of the summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also held a telephone conversation on Thursday focusing on high-level exchanges between the two countries.

Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Beijing on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) and held talks with Mr. Wang, during which he said Tehran was not interested in continuing its conflict with the U.S. and wanted to return to a diplomatic solution.

The U.S. has voiced concern over China’s test launch of a nuclear-capable missile and assured its allies of being steadfast in its defence commitments to them.

The U.S. also urged China to engage in meaningful arms control discussions and notify the intercontinental-range ballistic missile and space launches in line with the commitments made by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China being one of them.

China on Monday (July 6, 2026) successfully test-fired a long-range strategic missile with a dummy warhead from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the Pacific Ocean.

“The United States monitored China’s test launch from a submarine of an unarmed intercontinental-range ballistic missile, which landed in the southern Pacific Ocean,” Tommy Pigott, spokesperson, U.S. Department of State, said in a statement.

He said that at a time when the United States is working harder than ever to prevent nuclear proliferation, China is doing the opposite.

“Beijing’s rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup is of great concern to the region and the world,” Mr. Pigott said.

“We continue to urge China to engage in meaningful arms control discussions and commit to a regularized notification arrangement for all intercontinental-range ballistic missile and space launches consistent with commitments made by all other P5 members,” he said.

“The United States remains steadfast in our defense commitments to our allies and partners,” the spokesman added.

China said the test launch is a routine arrangement of the annual training of the PLA Navy.

The PLA Navy said it had already notified relevant countries about the test launch of the long-range strategic missile in advance.

The test launch complies with international law and international practice, and is not directed at any specific country or target, the Navy said, without identifying the missile and its range.

The FBI has seized more than a dozen websites that officials say were part of a Chinese effort to target American workers who have access to classified or sensitive government information, the Justice Department said on Wednesday (June 10, 2026).

The 13 websites purported to be affiliated with consulting companies that advertised job openings for current and former holders of security clearances. But the companies were all fakes and the job postings were a sham, officials said.

The internet domain seizure is part of a broader effort by Western law enforcement and intelligence agencies to sound the alarm about alleged Chinese government plots to recruit workers who can be duped into disclosing sensitive information.

Last week, for instance, the English-speaking Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. — issued a bulletin warning that China is targeting personnel from those countries on job websites to get access to classified or sensitive information.

The bulletin said spies for Chinese military intelligence have been posing as workers acting on behalf of private businesses or think tanks, advertising for bogus jobs such as foreign policy or defense analysts and pressuring candidates to provide “non-public” information.

According to an FBI affidavit filed in connection with the website seizure, the fake websites relied on fraudulent or stolen identities and AI-generated photographs to give them the appearance of legitimacy, and advertised generic “consulting” jobs geared toward current or former U.S. government employees.

“These websites are often linked or referenced within the entities’ job postings on LinkedIn and other hiring platforms,” the affidavit said.

Applicants and recruits were offered money for reports related to their work and for sensitive information, the Justice Department said. The operators of the plot, who officials allege to be tied to Chinese intelligence services, used cryptocurrency and online payment systems to hide their real identities, officials said.

Law enforcement officials identified the website through information from targets who came forward to report what they believed to be suspicious interactions.

“A lot of this information came from doing interviews, interviews with people who came forward that something didn’t seem right,” Dan Wierzbicki, the special agent in charge of the counterintelligence and cyber division of the FBI’s Washington field office, said in an interview.

“They provided information and said, Hey, this is kind of weird, we’re kind of getting paid by a cryptocurrency or an online payment system that’s not typical,” he added.

He said the FBI believes there are other websites serving a similar purpose and is seeking the public’s help in identifying them.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington called allegations of Chinese espionage “entirely fabricated” and “malicious slander”.

The Pentagon has added several prominent Chinese businesses, including tech giant Alibaba, electric car maker BYD and search engine Baidu, to its list of Chinese military companies, preventing them from getting U.S. defense contracts.

The list, updated and published on Monday (June 8, 2026) by the Pentagon, now sanctions well-known, non-state-owned Chinese companies that are not traditionally considered to be in the defence or security sector. It reflects growing wariness of Beijing’s strategy of tapping the strength of non-state businesses for military purposes.

Created in 2021 by a congressional mandate, the list seeks to identify Chinese companies that the Pentagon considers to have links to the Chinese military — not only those directly controlled by the Chinese military and security forces but also those contributing to the country’s defence industrial base.

When updating the list last year, the Pentagon said the Chinese military sought to acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by Chinese companies, universities and research programmes that “appear to be civilian entities”.

The Chinese Embassy on Monday (June 8, 2026) accused the U.S. of “overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies”. It said Chinese companies observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. “The US should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies,” the Embassy said in a statement.

This year’s list has grown to 188 Chinese entities, up from last year’s roughly 130 named by the Pentagon. It already had covered companies such as DJI, a major maker of consumer drones. While a company on the list can still do business in the US, it faces reputational damage and could be subject to more restrictions.

In naming Alibaba, the Pentagon said the tech giant helps boost China’s defense industrial base because it is affiliated with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Alibaba is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Pentagon said BYD and Baidu are affiliated with the same Ministry, which oversees China’s technology and industrial policies. BYD is dominant in the global electric vehicle market, and President Donald Trump said in January that he would welcome Chinese car-makers such as BYD if they built plants in the U.S. and hired American workers.

However, a number of U.S. lawmakers have said they will seek a ban on Chinese electric vehicles.

Another addition is the Chinese robotics company Unitree, whose dancing robots impressed Simon Cowell on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”. The Pentagon said the company “knowingly received assistance” from the Chinese government through its designation as a small or medium-sized company that is highly innovative, highly competitive globally and critical to the country’s supply chain.

Alibaba, BYD, Baidu and Unitree did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday (May 15, 2026) he had “received messages” from the United States saying it is willing to continue talks, and that he was open to any support, including from China.

“We received messages again from the Americans saying that they are willing to continue the talks and continue the interaction,” Mr. Araghchi told reporters in New Delhi.

Mr. Araghchi spoke a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Xi Jinping had offered China’s help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and that the Chinese leader had also pledged not to send military equipment to aid Iran in its war against the United States and Israel.

“We appreciate any country who has the ability to help, particularly China,” Mr. Araghchi said, speaking after he attended a meeting of the BRICS bloc of nations in New Delhi.

“We have very good relations with China, we are strategic partners to each other, and we know that (the) Chinese have a good intention, so anything that can be done by them to help diplomacy would be welcomed by the Islamic republic,” he added.

Pakistan has been the key mediator so far between the United States and Iran.

“The mediation process by Pakistan has not failed yet, but it is in a very difficult course, mostly because of the Americans’ behaviour and the mistrust which exists between us,” Mr. Araghchi said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) embarked on a visit to China for a meeting with President Xi Jinping to discuss smoothing trade relations rocked by tit-for-tat tariffs.

“We’re going to be talking with President Xi about a lot of different things. I would say more than anything else, it’ll be trade,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House as he headed to China.

“He’s been a friend of mine. He’s been somebody that we get along with… this is going to be a very exciting trip. A lot of good things are going to happen,” Mr. Trump said about his meeting with the Chinese President.

Mr. Trump sought to downplay differences with Mr. Xi over Iran and the shadow the conflict is casting on global oil markets.

“We’re going to have a long talk about it. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you,” Mr. Trump said of his plans to discuss the conflict with Mr. Xi.

“We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control,” he added.

“I don’t think we need any help with Iran, and we’ll win it one way or the other. We’ll win it. We’ll win it peacefully or not. The Navy’s gone. Their air force is gone. Every single element of their war machine is gone,” he added.

“We have Iran very much under control. We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated — so one way or the other, we win,” he said.

Accompanying Mr. Trump on Air Force One are Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio; Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth; U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer; Eric Trump; and Laura Trump, among others.

A large delegation of CEOs of top US companies will also be in Beijing during Mr. Trump’s visit.

The White House has invited top CEOs, including Elon Musk (Tesla), Tim Cook (Apple), Larry Fink (BlackRock), and Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), to join Mr. Trump on his trip to China this week.

Also expected to join Mr. Trump’s delegation for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping are Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Cargill’s Brian Sikes, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, Cisco’s Chuck Robbins, Coherent’s Jim Anderson, GE Aerospace’s H. Lawrence Culp Jr, Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon, Illumina’s Jacob Thaysen, Mastercard’s Michael Miebach, Meta Platforms executive Dina Powell McCormick, Micron Technology’s Sanjay Mehrotra, Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon and Visa’s Ryan McInerney.

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week for talks in Beijing, certain to feature the issue of democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, although Taipei rejects those claims.

Key developments:

1949 – Mao Zedong’s communists take power in Beijing after defeating ‌Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China government in a Civil war, which then flees to Taiwan.

1950 – ​Taiwan becomes an ally of the United States, which is at war against China in ⁠Korea. The United States deploys a fleet in the Taiwan Strait to protect its ally from possible attack by Mao.

1954-1955 – First Taiwan Strait Crisis: Beijing launches artillery attacks on some Taiwan-controlled islands off China’s southeastern coast. Taipei loses control of some islands and moves ‌remaining forces and residents to Taiwan.

1958 – Second Taiwan Strait Crisis: Beijing launches months-long artillery attacks on the Taiwan-controlled outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu, both close to the Chinese coast. Taipei fights back ‌with U.S. supplied weapons. China does not seize control of any Taiwan-held islands.

1979 – The United States endorses the “One ‌China ⁠Policy” and switches diplomatic ties to Beijing from Taipei. Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping offers the concepts ⁠of “one country, two systems” and “peaceful reunification” as possible alternatives to taking Taiwan by force.

1979 – The United States’ Taiwan Relations Act makes clear that its decision to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing rests on the expectation of peaceful means to determine Taiwan’s future. It obliges Washington to help provide ​Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

1982 – U.S. ‌President Ronald Reagan adopts the Six Assurances to Taiwan, including a pledge not to alter the Taiwan Relations Act.

1995 – Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui visits the United States for a reunion at Cornell University, drawing criticism from Beijing and escalating tensions.

1996 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: Taiwan holds its first direct Presidential vote. In reaction, Beijing ‌launches missiles into waters near Taiwan; Washington sends aircraft carries to the region. Lee wins by a ​landslide in March.

2000 – Chen Shui-bian is elected Taiwan president, bringing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to power for the first time with a peaceful transfer from the Kuomintang (KMT).

2005 – Beijing adopts an anti-secession ⁠bill in March that makes secession by Taiwan illegal. In April, leaders of the KMT and China’s ruling Communist Party meet for the first time since 1949.

May 2008 – The KMT’s President Ma Ying-jeou, who favours closer ties with China, comes ‌into power. He sets aside political disputes with China to reach deals in areas from tourism to direct commercial flights.

2016 – The DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen wins the Presidential race in January on a platform of standing up to China. In June, China suspends all official communications with Taiwan.

December 2016 – Then U.S. President elect, Donald Trump, breaks decades of U.S. diplomatic precedent by speaking directly, by telephone, with Tsai.

March 2018 – Trump signs legislation that encourages the United States to send senior officials to Taiwan to meet Taiwanese counterparts and vice versa, again infuriating China.

July 2022 – U.S. President Joe Biden ‌and Xi have a two-hour telephone call in which Biden underscores that U.S. policy has not changed and the United States strongly ​opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

August 2022 – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taipei despite Beijing’s warning. China holds war games ⁠around Taiwan after she leaves.

April 2023 – China holds three days of drills around Taiwan, after Tsai’s return to Taipei following a ⁠meeting in Los Angeles with Kevin McCarthy, U.S. House speaker at the time. China said its drills tested integrated military capabilities under combat conditions, practising precision strikes and blockading the island.

May 2024 – Shortly after ‌Lai Ching-te’s inauguration as President, China launches “punishment” drills around Taiwan in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”.

December 2025 – The Trump administration approves arms sales of $11 billion to Taiwan, the largest ever. Later that month, China ​launches its most extensive war games around Taiwan yet, aimed at showcasing Beijing’s ability to cut off outside support in a conflict.

A lobbying group whose board includes U.S. firms like Oracle, Amazon.com and Exxon Mobil is urging the Trump administration to immediately suspend a rule it says halted billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. exports and will prompt China and other countries to drop U.S. firms from their supply chains. In a letter addressed to President Donald Trump and seen by Reuters, the National Foreign Trade Council takes aim at the so-called Affiliates Rule, which bars American companies from shipping goods and technology to companies part-owned by sanctioned firms.

The rule “has resulted in an immediate pause of billions in U.S. exports, which is contrary to your desire to reduce the trade deficit and increase U.S. exports globally,” NFTC President Jake Colvin wrote in the letter, dated October 3 and not previously reported. The rule, if left intact, would encourage other countries to turn to non-U.S.-made goods, “resulting in weakening U.S. national security as the rest of the world, led by China, removes American nodes from its supply chains,” he added.

The White House and the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, did not respond to requests for comment. NFTC declined to comment.

The letter lays bare the extent of private sector opposition to the controversial rule, long sought by China hawks in Washington to crack down on sanctioned Chinese firms using unsanctioned subsidiaries to bypass export restrictions to access prized technology.

The rule, implemented on September 29, adds to the Entity List firms that are at least 50% owned by an entity-listed parent company. Companies are added to the list for taking actions that harm U.S. foreign policy or national security and are barred from receiving U.S. technology.

China strongly objected to the rule.

NFTC also accused the Commerce Department of “significantly” slowing and “even temporarily” halting the processing of export license applications, particularly for Chinese customers, with “thousands of licenses worth billions of dollars” accumulating at the Commerce Department.

Reuters reported in August that thousands of license applications by U.S. companies to export goods and technology around the globe, including to China, were in limbo due to turmoil and near paralysis at the agency.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China’s “beautiful ceremony” marking the end of World War Two should have highlighted the role that the U.S. played in Japan’s defeat.

“I thought it was a beautiful ceremony. I thought it was very, very impressive,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, hours after he suggested on social media that foreign leaders meeting in Beijing might be conspiring against the U.S.

“I watched the speech last night. President Xi is a friend of mine, but I thought that the United States should have been mentioned last night during that speech, because we helped China very, very much.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made the 80th anniversary of the war’s end a major showcase for his government and its close ties with countries at odds with Washington.

Flanked by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Mr. Xi spoke before a crowd of more than 50,000 spectators at Tiananmen Square. He surveyed a parade of goose-stepping troops and cutting-edge military equipment aimed at deterring would-be adversaries including the United States.

Japan’s invasion of China in 1937 was a major escalation in fighting that would lead to World War Two, and Japan’s surrender in 1945 marked the end of the conflict. The U.S. joined the war in 1941, aiding Chinese forces fighting the Japanese military and playing a decisive role in Japan’s defeat.

Deploying history to wage present-day political battles, Mr. Xi has cast World War Two as a major turning point in the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” now ruled by his Chinese Communist Party, and its allies.

On Wednesday, Mr. Xi thanked “the foreign governments and international friends who supported and assisted the Chinese people,” according to an official. But he did not dwell on the role of the United States in the war.

U.S.-China relations

U.S.-China relations are at a tense moment. The two sides are at odds on a range of security issues, from Ukraine to the South China Sea, and are wrangling over a broad trade deal to stave off tariffs on each other’s goods.

But Mr. Trump has repeatedly touted a positive personal relationship with Mr. Xi that his aides say can steer the world’s two largest economies in a constructive direction. He has also said he might soon meet with Mr. Xi.

In a post directed at Mr. Xi on Truth Social as the parade kicked off, Mr. Trump said, “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America.”

The Kremlin said they were not conspiring and suggested the remarks were ironic.