Trump to head to China for high-stakes talks with Xi – US politics live

Trump heads to China for high-stakes talks with Xi Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics . Donald Trump is heading to Beijing for high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as they seek to maintain a tentative trade truce while navigating Iran, Taiwan and dominance over global supply chains. The Iran conflict could serve as a potential source of tension during talks. The US president has sought help from China, a close ally of Iran and the world’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to convince Tehran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and end the war. Trump’s first visit to China in nearly nine years had been delayed in the hopes that the US-Israeli war against Iran would be over, and it comes a week after Beijing flaunted its close ties with Tehran by hosting the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. US president Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters For China’s assistance, Xi will probably want something in return, and on top of his list is Taiwan , a self-governing island that Beijing claims as part of its territory. Analysts say China wants the US to declare opposition to Taiwanese sovereignty and delay, or ultimately limit, arms sales to the island. Trump said yesterday that Washington’s longstanding support for Taiwan’s defence would be on his agenda for the Beijing summit. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion,” he told reporters. …