President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to China in nearly a decade. Trump brought a delegation of more than a dozen corporate executives, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who joined the trip during a stopover in Alaska. The visit is expected to center on trade, artificial intelligence, and Taiwan.

Trade and economic stability are at the top of the agenda, with both governments seeking to reinforce a fragile tariff truce reached last autumn that averted a broader trade war. Trump has long pressed China over its trade surplus with the United States, while Beijing has objected to American export controls and sanctions. Analysts said the summit's primary goal is to establish clearer ground rules for the bilateral economic relationship rather than produce sweeping new agreements.

The summit is taking place against the backdrop of a now three-month-old U.S. conflict with Iran, which has complicated the diplomatic atmosphere. Washington has been pressing Beijing — Iran's largest oil customer and one of the few nations with significant leverage in Tehran — to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply passes. The U.S. recently sanctioned several Chinese firms accused of assisting Iranian oil shipments, a move Beijing condemned as illegal and countered with a rarely invoked blocking statute.

China has publicly called for stability in the region while stopping short of aligning with Washington. Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted his Iranian counterpart in Beijing last week and defended Iran's right to civilian nuclear energy development. Xi has offered implicit criticism of U.S. conduct in the conflict, stating that international rule of law must not be selectively applied.

Observers say concerns about Taiwan also loom over the talks, with some analysts warning Trump could be tempted to soften U.S. support for the self-governing island in exchange for Chinese cooperation on Iran. Trump dismissed suggestions that Washington needed Beijing's help in the conflict before departing the White House, saying the U.S. would resolve the situation "peacefully or otherwise." The Beijing summit is described as the first of as many as four planned meetings between Trump and Xi over the coming year.