One day into US President Donald Trump’s visit to China for trade talks, both he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have exchanged toasts at a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and hailed their relationship as the world’s most “consequential”.
On Thursday, following a visit to the Temple of Heaven, a 600-year-old landmark in the Chinese capital, Xi spoke of a “shared US-China future”, while also warning that failure to handle this bond would create a “very dangerous situation”.
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“We must make it work and never mess it up,” he said.
Here’s a look at what each president have said about five key issues so far:
Their personal ties
The US president described his Chinese counterpart as “my friend” in his opening remarks at the state banquet that Xi hosted for the American leader.
“We are going to have a fantastic future together. I have such respect for China, for the job you’ve done. You are a great leader,” he told Xi.
Trump also invited Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan to pay a return visit to the White House on September 24.
For his part, the Chinese president said he was “very happy” to meet Trump in Beijing at a time of historic turbulence and when the “world stands at a new crossroads”.
He then posed a series of questions to the US president.
“Can we join hands to address global challenges and inject greater stability into the world?” he asked.
“Can we uphold the wellbeing of our respective peoples and the shared future of humanity, working together to create a bright future for our bilateral relationship?”
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“These are, in essence, questions posed by history, by the world, and by the people, and they constitute the answer to our times that you and I, as leaders of major nations, must jointly write,” he added.
Reporting from Beijing, Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu said that while the Chinese leader did not expand on his friendship with Trump, his reception underscored how highly Xi regards this visit.
“China is deeply invested in symbolism and visual optics, and it uses these details to convey the importance of a guest,” Yu said.
Trump was welcomed at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of power in China, “the equivalent of the White House and all other important centres of power combined”.
She added, “China is very aware that it wants to give Trump a spectacle. What we are seeing now is China rolling out the red carpet accordingly.”
Additionally, Vice President Han Zheng greeted Trump at the airport when he landed in Beijing on Wednesday, making him the highest-ranking Chinese official to ever welcome a US president.
Trump and Xi may meet again on at least two other occasions this year – the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting, in Shenzhen, China, in November; and the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Miami, Florida in the US in December.
It would be unprecedented for the US president to travel to China twice in one year.
Their countries’ ties
Xi and Trump agreed to frame their relationship as “constructive, strategic and stable” in a new positioning that is intended to guide US-China ties for the next three years and beyond, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement about talks between the two.
Trump said the relationship between the two countries went back to the founding of the US, noting that the early American traders who visited China were described, by the Chinese, as “the new people”.
Today, he said, the two countries’ bilateral ties were among “the most consequential” in the world.
The Chinese president said the two countries should become partners, rather than rivals, adding that “mutual respect is key to stable China-US ties”.
“I have always believed that the common interests between China and the US outweigh the differences,” Xi said.
“Let 2026 be a historic and landmark year for Sino-US relations to carry on the past and open up the future.”
Trump and Xi discussed trade, with Xi saying that China’s door of opportunity will open wider.
What this means is not explicitly clear yet, but Trump will be hoping it includes a Chinese pledge to buy US soya beans, beef and aircraft. Officials in the Trump administration also hope to move towards setting up a Board of Trade with China to manage commercial disputes between the two countries.
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Xi also met with US business leaders who have accompanied Trump on this trip on Thursday.
The US and China entered a tariff threat standoff last year, with each side imposing retaliatory tariffs on each other’s exports.
China also restricted exports of some rare-earth metals, which are crucial for technology manufacturing, in April. Later in the year, it announced plans to restrict several others. Those later plans are on pause since a truce was agreed between the two presidents in October last year on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea.
In return for China’s agreement to pause restrictions on rare-earth metal exports, Trump dropped a threat of 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods.
Taiwan
The Taiwanese government maintains that the self-governing island of 23 million people is a sovereign state.
During the meeting on Thursday, Xi reportedly warned Trump that the issue of Taiwan – which China regards as its own territory – could lead to conflict between Washington and Beijing if it is not handled carefully.
However, Taiwan was not mentioned in a joint statement following the meeting, and Trump notably ignored a question from reporters about his stance on Taiwan.
This is a tricky issue for the US.
While the US government officially acknowledges that China views Taiwan as part of its territory, it does not explicitly state whether or not it agrees with that stance.
The US formally severed official diplomatic ties with Taiwan – also known as the Republic of China – decades ago, but remains committed under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to supporting the defence of the self-governing democracy.
That law has enabled Washington to supply Taiwan with billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and to deepen cooperation in areas such as military training and intelligence sharing, moves Beijing regards as meddling in its internal affairs.
Xi has told Trump that the “Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning posted on X on Thursday.
“If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” she wrote.
Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are as “irreconcilable as fire and water”, Xi said.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying that China is “currently the sole risk to regional peace and stability”, after Xi warned Trump.
“Beijing has no right to make any claims on behalf of Taiwan internationally,” the statement added.
The war on Iran
The US-Israel war on Iran, which entered its 76th day on Thursday, also came up in the meeting between Trump and Xi on Thursday.
In their joint statement, Trump and Xi agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open and Iran should never have nuclear weapons.
US officials have previously said that they might need China’s help in convincing Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. But analysts say Beijing will want concessions from the US, likely regarding Taiwan, in exchange for any aid in resolving the crisis.
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