World Leaders Watch Trump-Xi Talks on Trade, Taiwan, Iran, AI

World capitals are reading the same signal from Beijing: the Trump-Xi meeting could ease a widening set of economic and security pressures, or make them worse. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet in Beijing on Thursday and Friday, with Trump scheduled to arrive on Wednesday for his first trip to China since 2017 and their first face-to-face encounter in more than six months. The agenda reaches well beyond tariffs, spanning trade, technology, rare earth export controls, Taiwan, the Iran war and artificial intelligence.

The stakes are especially sharp in Europe and Asia, where industrial policy and security planning now overlap. China’s suspension of exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets, along with its ban on semiconductors from Nexperia China, has already disrupted supply chains for automakers across Europe, Japan and South Korea. That leaves governments in Singapore, Brussels, Tokyo and Seoul watching for signs that Trump and Xi will choose managed competition over a fresh escalation. Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics put it bluntly: “Virtually everyone has a stake in the outcome of this meeting.”

Iran is the other pressure point that has pulled the summit into a broader geopolitical frame. Washington has been leaning on Beijing to use its influence over Tehran, while Chinese officials have hosted Iran’s foreign minister and ordered companies not to comply with U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil. The White House is also trying to enlist China in efforts tied to the Strait of Hormuz, where any reopening could ease oil prices and offer near-term relief to the energy crunch. As Cornell economist Eswar Prasad warned, “The entire world will be hoping that the two leaders can reach agreement on at least a subset of issues.”

Even if the summit does not resolve the deepest disputes, both sides appear to be preparing smaller deliverables. U.S. officials say the two governments are expected to create forums to facilitate mutual trade and investment, and Beijing is expected to announce purchases tied to Boeing aircraft, American agriculture and energy. A Board of Trade and a Board of Investment may be announced as well, though they would still need further work before becoming operational. The most durable outcome may be a temporary one: another extension of the critical minerals truce that has kept rare earths flowing. If the talks stall on Taiwan, nuclear arms or Iran, the meeting could still define the next phase of U.S.-China rivalry by hardening the lines everyone else must now plan around.