Trump to Hold High-Stakes Meeting With Xi in Beijing

Key issues expected to dominate the Beijing summit include the trade war, the conflict in Iran, human rights, and Taiwan.

President Donald Trump is set to begin a two-day summit in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on May 14 amid significant tensions between the two countries.

Trump will first attend a welcome ceremony, followed by a bilateral meeting with Xi. The ongoing trade tensions are expected to dominate discussions between the two leaders.

The latest trade war with China began in early 2025, when Trump announced new reciprocal tariffs, including an additional 34 percent duty on Chinese goods on top of existing tariffs. The Chinese regime escalated with its own tariffs and other measures, including strict export controls on rare earths and magnets, starting a tit-for-tat between the two countries.

By April 10, 2025, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods had reached 145 percent before the United States and China agreed to a temporary truce the following month that suspended most of the new tariffs.

In late October 2025, Trump and Xi met in Busan, South Korea, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where they agreed to extend the truce for another year. Xi also agreed to pause export controls and licensing rules on rare-earths and critical minerals, keeping these supplies available for the U.S. and global markets. According to a Trump administration official, the agreement remains in effect until October, with its extension being a possible discussion during the summit.

Trump brought to Beijing a large group of U.S. business executives, including tech billionaire Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Cargill’s Brian Sikes, and Citi’s Jane Fraser.

During the two-day summit, the U.S. delegation is hoping to secure new agreements and purchase commitments from China in aerospace, agriculture, and energy.

“The American people can expect the president to deliver more good deals on behalf of our country,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told reporters during a call on May 10.

After their bilateral meeting, Trump and Xi are scheduled to tour the Temple of Heaven before attending a state banquet that evening.

continued

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-to-kick-off-summit-with-xi-in-beijing-6025427

>>24602807

…

Iran Conflict

The Beijing summit is being held against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which shows little sign of reaching a resolution soon.

Washington has criticized China for its close ties with Iran. China is Iran’s biggest oil buyer, main trading partner, and a long-time ally. The Trump administration has urged the Chinese regime to support U.S. efforts to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, a key international oil transit corridor that the Iranian regime has effectively blocked.

Although Trump has repeatedly urged Beijing to pressure Tehran, this is not Washington’s primary concern, officials said. The main worry, as with Russia, is that China provides support to Iran through oil revenue and possibly by supplying weapons.

The president has spoken multiple times with Xi about Iran and Russia, including the revenue China provides to both regimes, a senior administration official told reporters during a call on Sunday. The talks involved “goods, components, parts,” as well as “potential of weapons exports.”

“I expect that conversation to continue,” the official said.

Before leaving for Beijing, Trump compared the Iran ceasefire to a patient with the slimmest chance of survival.

“I would call it the weakest right now, after reading a piece of garbage,” Trump said, referring to the latest proposal sent by Tehran. “I didn’t even finish reading it.”

“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support.”

Taiwan and human rights issues will also likely take center stage during the bilateral discussions.

A Different Rubio

One of the most notable aspects of this trip is that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has joined Trump and will meet face-to-face with CCP officials who sanctioned him in 2020. Rubio was targeted by Beijing because of his long-standing criticism of the Chinese regime.

After Rubio became Secretary of State, officials in Beijing quietly changed a Chinese character in his name to give the impression that sanctions targeted a different “Rubio,” not the current U.S. secretary of state.

In 2020, Beijing sanctioned Rubio twice during his tenure as a U.S. senator from Florida for calling out the CCP’s violations of human rights, including its genocide of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, the erosion of Hong Kong’s democracy and its rule of law, and its decades-long persecution of Falun Gong.

In 2024, Rubio introduced a bill aimed at deterring the Chinese regime’s state-sanctioned killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs.

On May 5, at a White House press conference, Rubio said that human rights violations, including forced organ harvesting, remain important priorities for the administration.

“We always raise those issues, and they remain true,” Rubio said in response to a question from NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times. “They’re important to us, among others, of course, but those issues remain prominent in our view and in our conversation about these things, and we’ll continue to raise them in the appropriate forums.”

On May 11, Trump told reporters that he planned to discuss with Xi the cases of imprisoned media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai and pastor Ezra Jin Mingri.

Others who accompanied Trump on this trip include his son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law Lara Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Murders Down Roughly 20 Percent in 2025, FBI Preliminary Data Shows

In an unprecedented mid-spring disclosure, the FBI unveiled preliminary data pointing to the sharpest single-year murder decline in recorded American history.

The FBI on Sunday published an early glimpse at annual crime data, releasing preliminary 2025 data alongside first-quarter 2026 numbers that together show that violent crime has dropped sharply.

The figures, typically released at the end of summer, marked the first time the bureau furnished a preview of annual crime tallies before the end of the following spring.

The first-quarter 2026 numbers, drawn from 67 major law enforcement agencies, showed homicides fell 17.7 percent against the same period last year, robberies fell 20.4 percent, reported rapes declined 7.2 percent, and aggravated assaults dropped 4.8 percent. Declines appeared in every region of the country, according to the bureau.

Among cities registering the steepest homicide reductions from January through March are Washington, D.C., down 64.7 percent; Philadelphia, 54 percent; San Diego, 50 percent; Houston, 36.4 percent; Memphis, Tennessee, 34.4 percent; New York City, 31.7 percent; and Los Angeles, 23 percent.

The 2025 full-year figures anchoring the release were equally stark.

The FBI recorded a 20 percent drop in the national murder rate, the largest single-year decrease ever captured in FBI data, alongside a 31 percent rise in fentanyl seizures, rescue of more than 6,000 child victims, and a 290 percent increase in gang disruptions. FBI Director Kash Patel told The Epoch Times that the achievements were the result of a “full-scale reset of the FBI—operationally, culturally, and fiscally.”

In 2025, FBI arrests climbed 197 percent, from 34,000 to 67,000; 1,800 gangs and criminal enterprises were dismantled—a 210 percent increase—and more than 30,000 were arrested for violent crimes, nearly double from 2024.

The U.S. homicide rate in 2025 fell 21 percent from 2024—44 percent below the 2021 pandemic peak, according to a report by the Council on Criminal Justice, which analyzed data from 40 large cities. The group projected that when the FBI finalized its annual report, the national homicide rate would stand at roughly 4.0 per 100,000 residents, the lowest recorded in law enforcement or public health data stretching back to 1900.

Patel hinted at the historic nature of the data for months.

“We are on track to have the lowest murder rate in modern American history. The lowest murder rate by double-digit percentages,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2025. He attributed the shift in large part to the FBI’s Operation Summer Heat, noting that in New Orleans and Nashville alone, violent crime arrests climbed an average of 250 percent each.

A month later, Patel told The Epoch Times’s Jan Jekielek that homicides had fallen by double digits nationwide.

“I’m happy to announce, finally, that one of the big targets we had for this year, obviously, was to reduce the murder rate across America,” he said.

In October 2025, Trump and Patel announced that Operation Summer Heat resulted in more than 8,700 arrests and a 20 percent drop in violent crime in targeted cities. Trump, in a Truth Social post days later, said that since he was inaugurated, 28,000 violent criminals have been arrested, more than 6,000 illegal firearms were removed from the street, 5,000 children have been rescued, and 2,000 criminal enterprises have been disrupted—calling them “historic results.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/murders-down-roughly-20-percent-in-2025-fbi-preliminary-data-shows-6025561

>>24602475

The White House

LIVE: President Trump Participates in a Greeting with the President of the People's Republic of China

10,812 watching now

Started streaming 22 minutes ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEv7B8-taYM

Donald J. Trump

1:28

370 ReTruths 1.2k Likes

May 13, 2026, 10:27 PM

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116570565832082360

Donald J. Trump

>>24602972

2:45

407 ReTruths 1.47k Likes

May 13, 2026, 10:28 PM

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116570567119694784

>>24602956

>https://youtu.be/wcuztPVlb08

Welcome back to China after 9 years!

Trump gets spectacular state welcome from China's Xi as goose-stepping guards greet president in Beijing

Donald Trump has been treated to the full red-carpet treatment by China's president Xi Jinping, lavished with imperial pomp rarely afforded a US leader as goose-stepping troops, thundering cannons and flag-waving children greeted him in Beijing.

Trump hailed Xi as they took their seats inside the Great Hall of the People, calling it 'an honor like few have ever seen before', and singling out the chanting children for special praise, calling them 'happy and beautiful.'

Sitting opposite Xi, Trump was effusive: 'It's an honor to be with you, it's an honor to be your friend, and the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before.'

Xi, for his part, opened with a loaded reference to the so-called 'Thucydides Trap', urging Trump that the two superpowers must 'overcome' it and warning that 'the whole world is watching our meeting'.

The phrase refers to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides' account of Athens and Sparta, and describes the danger of conflict when an established power feels threatened by a rising civilization.

'The world has come to a new crossroads. Can China and the US overcome the Thucydides trap and create a new paradigm of relations?' Xi asked Trump across the table.

'These are the questions vital to history, to the world, and to the people. They are the questions of our times that you and I need to answer as leaders of major countries.' …

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15816455/Trump-gets-spectacular-state-welcome-Chinas-Xi-goose-stepping-guards-greet-president-Beijing.html

>>24603105

1) spectacular state welcome video 1:44

2) Trump walked over to Xi, who was waiting by the steps, and the pair shook hands, with Trump warmly patting the Chinese leader's hand as they exchanged a few words

3) President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Beijing

4) President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Beijing

5) President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Thursday, May 14

>>24603105

>>24603120

6) Xi Jinping speaks during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People on May 14

7) U.S. President Donald Trump participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14

8) Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, stands with U.S. President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

9) US President Donald Trump (R) and China's President Xi Jinping (L) greet children waving Chinese and US national flags and flowers during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14

10)U.S. President Donald Trump participates in an welcome ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14

>>24603105

>>24603120

>>24603128

11) President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Thursday, May 14

12) U.S. President Donald Trump is welcomed by children during a ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China

13) The scene as U.S. President Donald Trump participates in events at the Great Hall of the People and does a greeting with the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping May 14

14) US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (bottom C), US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (bottom centre R), Secretary of State Marco Rubio (bottom R), Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (second row R),senior advisor Stephen Miller (bottom L), Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (centre R second row) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (centre L middle row) attend a welcome ceremony for US President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14

15) Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People on May 14

>>24603105

>>24603120

>>24603128

>>24603134

16) US President Donald Trump (L) takes part in a welcome ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14

17) Military members yell as President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People

18) US President Donald Trump (R) prepares to shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping

19) An honor guard stands at attention prior to a welcome ceremony for U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People on May 14

20) Chinese President Xi Jinping stands with US President Donald Trump

>>24603105

>>24603120

>>24603128

>>24603134

>>24603139

21) Trump walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People

22) Members of the U.S. delegation including (front 2L-R) Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ambassador to China David Perdue, and CEOs from various industries stand prior to a welcome ceremony for U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People on May 14

23) Trump salutes next to Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on May 14

24) Xi Jinping (L) greets US President Donald Trump (C) during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing

25) Chinese President Xi Jinping greets U.S. President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing

>>24603105

>>24603120

>>24603128

>>24603134

>>24603139

>>24603145

26) A motorcade that is believed to be carrying U.S. President Donald Trump travels on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing

27) Trump participates in an welcome ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14

A) Security is tightened at the Temple of Heaven park ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

B) President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

C)

last three from

https://apnews.com/live/trump-administration-updates-05-14-2026

>>24603159

>Who's the guy crying?

??Jamieson Greer, U.S. Trade Representative??