Trump due in China for high-stakes summit with Xi Jinping | First Thing

Good morning. Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, the first visit to China by a US president since he was last there nearly a decade ago, as he seeks to mend power and prestige weakened by the war in Iran. But the Middle East conflict he started – and seems unable to finish – will cast a long shadow over two days of talks, amid fears he may be tempted to weaken US support for Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by China, in return for Xi’s help. White House officials said Trump would travel with a delegation of more than a dozen US business leaders, including Elon Musk of Tesla and Tim Cook of Apple, in a sign that both governments still seek economic cooperation despite strategic rivalry. What is the state of US-China relations? The two countries remain locked in a fragile tariff truce , reached last autumn after tensions threatened to erupt into a full-scale trade war. Trump has long complained about China’s trade surplus with the US, while Beijing has opposed American export controls and sanctions. What is the latest with the US-Iran ceasefire? The war has entered its third month, with Tehran tightening its grip over the strait of Hormuz and Washington struggling to turn a fragile ceasefire into a lasting settlement. Behind the scenes, US officials have spent weeks urging China to put pressure on Iran to reopen the strait and accept US terms for peace. …