Donald Trump will spend the first half of this week shaking hands in New York and the second half doing it again in Washington. The main event comes Thursday, when Chinese President Xi Jinping sits down with him for bilateral talks.
U.S. News reported that the run of meetings starts Tuesday, when the U.N. General Assembly opens with an address by Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with Trump speaking after him. Those speeches and the Xi talks are expected to take in the conflict in the Middle East, artificial intelligence, import tariffs, the war in Ukraine and China’s relationship with the West. A trade dispute with Canada may also surface.
Tariffs and the truce
Trade is expected to carry the Thursday session. According to ET Now, the two sides are weighing an extension of the tariff truce they reached after their October 2025 summit. The current arrangement runs out in November. The deal took some heat out of the dispute between the world’s two largest economies, and the talks are expected to range over tariffs, market access and measures that touch strategic goods.
It will be the second Trump-Xi meeting of 2026. Trump travelled to Beijing in May, and U.S. News ran a photograph of the two men shaking hands at the Great Hall of the People on May 14.
Chips, Iran and Taiwan
Artificial intelligence is the other heavyweight item. Washington has restricted exports of some advanced technology to China, while Beijing objects to what it calls efforts to hold back its technological development. ET Now described the two countries as rivals in AI, semiconductors and other strategic fields.
Iran could come up too. Trump has indicated it will be among the subjects, and ET Now quoted him on whether he would raise the war with Xi: “We’ll see. I’ll be talking about that and many other subjects, but it’s also coming along well.” U.S. officials and lawmakers have urged him to press Beijing over its ties to Tehran. The White House has not said how much time Iran will get.
Taiwan remains the standing point of disagreement. China regards the island as its territory; the United States keeps unofficial relations with Taipei and provides it with military support. Military-to-military communication, and ways to stop tensions from escalating, are also expected on the table.
Trump may also ask about Americans held in China. ET Now named two possible cases: Youlin Chen, a Chinese-born expert on North Korean nuclear tests who has been imprisoned since late 2024, and the scholar Min Zin, who was arrested in June. Tibet, Uyghurs and Hong Kong could be raised, though the White House has not said whether Trump plans to bring them up.
A dinner and a poor poll
That evening Trump hosts Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at a state dinner at the White House. Senior executives from big technology firms, including some working on AI, and from the banking sector are expected to attend.
The week of summitry arrives at a convenient moment for the president. U.S. News noted that it diverts attention from domestic problems ahead of the November midterm elections. The American Research Group released a survey on Monday showing 29% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling his job and 68% disapprove. On the economy the split is 26% approve, 71% disapprove. Persistent inflation, with prices still climbing for gasoline and groceries, tops the list of complaints, and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week for the first time in three years.
Sources
- Trump-Xi Jinping meeting in Washington: What’s on the agenda for US-China talks? – News | ET Now
- Trump to Meet World Leaders, Including Xi Jinping, This Week in New York and Washington | National News | U.S. News
