US President Donald Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2, a White House official confirmed according to Reuters on Friday, February 20 (local time).
The trip was announced as the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports that he has used in a global trade war, including some against rival China.
Earlier, at the Board of Peace Event on February 19, US President Donald Trump said, “…I have a very good relationship with President Xi. I’m going to China in April. It’s going to be wild.”
“The last time I was in China, President Xi Jinping treated me so well. He gave me a demonstration. I’ve never seen so many soldiers who are all the same height, exactly the same height. I said if they put their helmets down, you could play pool on the top of their heads. And it was pretty amazing…,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on the dates of the trip, which were first reported by Reuters. Beijing has not confirmed the trip.
What is expected at the Trump-Xi meeting?
Trump’s talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on an extended visit to Beijing were expected to revolve around extending a trade truce that has prevented the two countries from further increased tariffs.
Taiwan is also expected to join the US-China talks. China considers the democratically administered Taiwan as its own territory, which Taipei rejects.
Tariffs
The Supreme Court’s latest decision invalidating Trump’s tariffs has raised new questions for strained relations between the US and China.
Relations between the two countries have recently stabilized after Trump reduced tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for measures from Beijing, including a crackdown on the illicit fentanyl trade and the suspension of export restrictions on critical minerals.
The 20 percent tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which a court ruled Trump violated. These rates were tied to domestic emergencies related to fentanyl distribution and trade imbalances.
Other tariffs on Chinese goods, including those imposed under statutory trade authorities known as Section 301 and Section 232, remain in place.
It was not immediately clear how many of the tariffs Trump would reinstate, but he said at a news conference that he would impose a new 10% global tariff for 150 days.
Taiwan
Trump’s visit will be his first face-to-face meeting since an October meeting in South Korea where they agreed on a trade truce.
While the October meeting largely sidestepped the sensitive issue of Taiwan, Xi raised US arms sales to the island when the two leaders spoke this month.
China considers the democratically administered Taiwan as its own territory, which Taipei rejects. The US, which is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, has formal diplomatic ties with China but maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan and is the island’s most important arms supplier.
In December, Washington announced its largest-ever arms deal with Taiwan, including $11.1 billion worth of weapons it says could be used to defend against a Chinese attack. Taiwan expects more such sales.
Purchases of soybeans
Xi said during the February call that he would consider further increases in soybean purchases, according to Trump.
America’s struggling farmers are a key political group for Trump, and China is the largest consumer of soybeans.
Analysts told Reuters on Friday that China may be less likely to go ahead with another big purchase of US soybeans after the Supreme Court ruling.
Advanced computer chips and drones
Although Trump has justified hawkish policy moves from Canada to Greenland and Venezuela as necessary to thwart China, in the past few months he has softened policy toward Beijing in areas ranging from tariffs to advanced computer chips and drones.
The global trade war that Trump launched after he began his second term in office in January 2025 has alienated other trading partners, including allies.
Critics argued that the blanket imposition of high tariffs on countries effectively insulated Beijing from the tariff barrage and reduced incentives to shift supply chains away from China.
Friday’s ruling could indirectly increase pressure on Beijing if effective tariffs on other countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, fall more than on China, said Martin Chorzempa, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“Unlike many other countries, there is a well-established, legally much more durable mechanism for most of the tariffs imposed on China, which makes them less affected than tariffs on other countries,” Chorzempa said.
(With inputs from Reuters)