United States President Donald Trump's visit to China this week will mark his seventh face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The visit will also be the first trip by a US leader to China since 2017.

Trump and Xi's three-day summit, which kicks off on Wednesday, is expected to focus on the US-Israel war on Iran, trade, and the status of Taiwan, among other issues.

The two first met at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort on April 6, 2017, just a few months into his first term. At the time, Trump was coming off a presidential campaign that had heavily criticised China's trade practices.

In July 2017, they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit, focusing on North Korea's nuclear programme and economic ties. A month later, the Trump Administration launched a trade war against China.

Trump landed in China on November 8, 2017 for a three-day visit, which included watching a Peking opera, visits to the Forbidden City and Palace Museum, a formal reception, and a private meeting with Xi.

In December 2018, Trump and Xi held a dinner on the sidelines of the G20 summit. Months earlier, the US had imposed tariffs on $250bn worth of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate with tariffs on $110bn worth of US goods.

At the G20 summit in June 2019, the leaders agreed to de-escalate their rivalry, including a halt to new US tariffs and a Chinese commitment to buy more US agricultural exports.

Trump and Xi held their first meeting in six years on the sidelines of the 2025 APEC summit on October 30, 2025. They announced a one-year pause in their trade war, with the US easing tariffs and China dropping some export restrictions on rare earths.

Source: www.aljazeera.com