Donald Trump is heaping praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week, calling him a 'great leader' days after the pair's countries emerged from the most punishing trade war in modern American history.

The US presidentarrived in China's capital on 13 May 2026for a two-day state visit, met Xi at the Great Hall of the People, and promptly declared the pair have had 'a fantastic relationship' and that he holds 'such respect for China.' The diplomatic warmth stands in direct contrast to a decade's worth of accusations, formal White House statements, and campaign speeches in which Trump characterised Beijing as an economic predator that had 'ripped off the United States like no one has ever done before.'

The visit is the highest-profile diplomatic engagement between Washington and Beijing in years, arriving less than 12 months after Trump imposed 145 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports in what economists described as the largest American trade escalation of the past century.

At opening remarks before bilateral talks on 14 May 2026, Trump told Xi directly: 'You're a great leader. I say it to everybody.' He described the bilateral bond in the warmest of terms. 'We've had a fantastic relationship. We've gotten along — when there were difficulties, we worked it out,' Trump said during the session, according to reports from the press pool inside the hall. He went further: 'Whenever we had a problem, we worked it out very quickly, and we're going to have a fantastic future together.'

After a subsequent tour of the historic Temple of Heaven, Trump offered reporters his summary of the talks in two words: 'It's great.' He added: 'Great place. Incredible. China's beautiful.' Trump also introduced the business leaders he had brought along and encouraged them to 'expand cooperation with China,' according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry readout of the session.

The US delegation reads as a who's who of American tech and industry.Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, and Nvidia chief executiveJensen Huangall accompanied Trump to Beijing.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang met the group separately and urged them to help maintain the 'healthy development' of US-China relations. For many in that room, China remains an indispensable manufacturing base and one of the world's largest consumer markets — regardless of what either government's tariff schedules say.

The effusive tone is a striking departure from what Trump himself put in writing during both his presidencies. In a formal address in May 2020,archived by the White House, Trump stated explicitly: 'For decades, they have ripped off the United States like no one has ever done before. Hundreds of billions of dollars a year were lost dealing with China... China raided our factories, offshored our jobs, gutted our industries, stole our intellectual property, and violated their commitments under the World Trade Organisation.'

Does that mean@realDonaldTrumpwon't say China 'raped' the US, ripped it off like no one has ever done before; Covid was the 'China Virus'; calling China a 'hellhole'; accusing Chinese immigrants of bringing 'filth' & 'litter'He really IS kissing arse. Loser.https://t.co/NOFC1cVSR2

His campaign-era statements were even harsher. Speaking at theDetroit Economic Club in August 2016, Trump described China as engaged in 'illegal export subsidies, prohibited currency manipulation, and rampant theft of intellectual property.' In a Good Morning America interview in 2015, he called China's practices 'the greatest theft in the history of the world.' During that same period he wrote in his book Crippled America that China had 'destroyed entire industries' and was 'an economic enemy.'

Source: International Business Times UK