U.S. President Donald Trump meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap
BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump departed for Beijing on Tuesday (Washington time) for a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, amid hopes that the long-awaited meeting will help ease tensions in their deepening strategic rivalry and foster cooperation on complex issues, such as Iran.
Trump is scheduled to land in Beijing on Wednesday evening (local time) for a three-day visit, marking his first trip to China since November 2017. This trip comes despite an impasse in U.S.-Iran talks aimed at ending the war and reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
On Thursday morning, Trump and Xi are set to hold a meeting, which would be the first of four possible bilateral talks this year, including meetings on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November and the Group of 20 gathering in Florida in December.
Before departing, Trump told reporters that he will discuss "a lot of different things" with Xi.
"I would say more than anything else will be trade," he said.
During their talks, Trump and Xi are expected to discuss trade, the security of Taiwan, the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran and artificial intelligence (AI), among other issues, according to senior U.S. officials.
North Korea could also be brought up during the meeting, observers said, as Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un amid growing concerns over Pyongyang's advancing nuclear and missile programs.
On trade, the two sides are likely to discuss the creation of a "board of trade," a mechanism that would allow the world's two largest economies to manage trade across non-sensitive goods, at a time when both sides have tightened export controls on strategic goods, such as semiconductors and critical minerals.
The board might cover "double-digit billions" of dollars in bilateral trade, according to a senior U.S. official.
Source: Korea Times News
