Trump says he'll visit Beijing in April and later host China's Xi

WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump said he accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit China in April and, in turn, invited Xi to the White House for a state visit later in 2026.

Trump relayed the plans after a phone call between the two leaders on Nov. 24, nearly four weeks after they met in South Korea on Oct. 30 following months of tensions prompted by Trump's tariffs.

During the talks, China agreed to resume purchases of U.S. soybeans and halted its expanded curbs on the export of rare earth minerals, while the United States lowered tariffs on China by 10%. The two sides also agreed to hold off on triple-digit tariffs threatened on the other country.

"Since then, there has been significant progress on both sides in keeping our agreements current and accurate," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "Now we can set our sights on the big picture. To that end, President Xi invited me to visit Beijing in April, which I accepted, and I reciprocated, where he will be my guest for a State Visit in the U.S. later in the year."

Trump's trip to China would mark the first time a United States president has traveled to China since Trump made a state visit in 2017 to Beijing.

Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Xi told Trump in their Nov. 24 phone call that the China-U.S. relationship has "generally maintained a steady and positive trajectory" since the meeting in Busan, South Korea.

"The two sides should keep up the momentum, keep moving forward in the right direction on the basis of equality, respect, and mutual benefit, lengthen the list of cooperation and shorten the list of problems," Ning said.

Xi also told Trump that Taiwan's "return to China" is an integral part of the post-war international order, Ning said. "China and the United States once fought side by side against fascism and militarism, and should now work together to safeguard the outcomes of World War Two," the spokeswoman said.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of it, though the island's government rejects Beijing's claim and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

For decades, U.S. presidents have adhered to an ambiguous "One China policy" that recognizes the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China while maintaining unofficial diplomatic relations with Taiwan.