Donald Trump Schedules Historic Visit to China on 14 May After Delay Due to Iran War
US President Donald Trump has announced plans for a state visit to China on 14-15 May 2026. This high-level meeting with President Xi Jinping will be the first visit by a US president to the Bamboo Curtain country in nearly a decade.
The travel plans were previously delayed from the initial schedule of 31 March due to the escalation of military conflict between the US-Israel and Iran. In a post on the Truth Social platform on Wednesday (25/3/2026), Trump stated that officials are finalising preparations for the “Historic Visit”. In addition to his trip to Beijing, Trump is also scheduled to host Xi Jinping in Washington DC at the end of this year.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the delay was due to the US’s current focus on combat operations in the Middle East. Tensions peaked last month after US and Israeli attacks killed Iran’s top leader, prompting retaliatory strikes from Tehran on Gulf regions.
The conflict culminated in Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil and natural gas supplies. As a result, a global fuel crisis became inevitable. Trump himself has urged US allies to help lift the strait blockade and threatened to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure if access to the waterway is not restored soon.
Regarding the war’s duration, Leavitt provided an optimistic estimate that the conflict might subside by the time of the China visit.
“We have always estimated (the operation) at around four to six weeks, so you can do the math yourself,” Leavitt said during a press briefing.
The last visit by a US president to China took place in November 2017, also by Trump during his first term. Since then, relations between the two countries have been overshadowed by trade frictions, technology competition, and geopolitical tensions.
Although Beijing has not yet given an official response regarding the exact date mentioned by Trump, Chinese state media have begun to show a positive tone. A Global Times editorial emphasised the importance of people-to-people exchanges and high-level visits that have been absent for a long time.
“History has repeatedly shown that China and the US both benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” the editorial stated.
The Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing will be closely watched by the international community as a signal of whether the world’s two largest economic powers can ease tensions amid the ongoing global turmoil.