(Sept 21): China said President Xi Jinping will travel to the US to meet Donald Trump, a visit that comes with a one-year trade truce winding down.

Xi will make a state visit on Sept 23-25 at the US president’s invitation, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun. The Chinese leader will have an “in-depth exchange of views” with Trump “on major issues concerning bilateral ties and world peace and development” as both countries look to work jointly to “properly manage differences”, Guo said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Monday.

“The exchanges of visits by the two presidents within the span of half a year will mark a milestone of historic significance,” he said. Trump and Xi last met in May.

The trip will be Xi’s first to the US since 2023, when he met former US president Joe Biden during a visit that included attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. Prospects for an extension to the trade war ceasefire negotiated last year in South Korea are solidifying as the sides discuss slashing tariffs on goods including American energy and agricultural products.

Ahead of this week’s summit between the two presidents, US and Chinese officials held trade talks on Sunday in New York. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent lauded the meeting as “very successful” and said the two sides agreed to set up a dialogue on AI aimed at reaching a common understanding on goals and threats presented by the technology.

Trump has said he would hold a state dinner for Xi, one that Apple Inc executive chairman Tim Cook and OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman are poised to attend.

The Iran war, flows of rare earths and competition in AI are other issues that are likely to be discussed. China is Tehran’s biggest oil customer, and Xi appears in no rush to help Trump in his efforts to hurt the Middle Eastern country economically.

Bloomberg News reported earlier that the US and China are discussing lowering tariffs on certain goods. This week’s meetings are also likely to result in an agreement to cut duties on Chinese inputs for manufacturers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Beijing is also likely to remind the US that the status of Taiwan is one of its few red-line issues. The US is the biggest military and political supporter of the island democracy, which China views as its territory. 

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