President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in mid-May after a planned meeting for the end of this month was postponed.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that the meeting will now take place in Beijing May 14-15, echoing comments White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made earlier in the day.
“My meeting with the Highly Respected President of China, President Xi Jinping, which was originally postponed due to our Military operation in Iran, has been rescheduled,” he wrote.
The president also reiterated that Xi will visit Washington for a further meeting later this year.
“Our Representatives are finalizing preparations for these Historic Visits,” Trump added.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with Chinese officials in Paris last week and said that both sides had emerged with a “work plan” for potential agreements both leaders could finalize when they meet.
At Agri-Pulse’s Ag and Food Policy summit on Monday, USTR’s Chief Agricultural Trade Negotiator Julie Callahan said that agricultural provisions featured as part of the plan.
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Callahan made her own visit to Beijing last week, which she said had also helped lay “the groundwork” for further talks.
“I raised some concern regarding some specific commodities. We've had some challenges with beef exports – as you all know – with poultry HPAI issues, with biotechnology,” she said.
Plenty of agricultural commodities are angling for their issues to be put on the table as part of the discussions.
Trump himself has floated securing additional soybean purchases from China. The U.S. meat sector is also hoping for the reinstation of a slate of export licenses for beef facilities that expired last year and for the administration to hold China to parts of its 2020 Phase One Agreement that set protocols for reinstating poultry trade following states' eradication of avian flu.
If Trump’s visit to Beijing and Xi’s reciprocal Washington visit materialize, the two leaders could meet four times this year. The pair may also sit down at a planned G20 meeting in Miami and a November Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in China.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said it had "no information" on the new meeting dates or Xi’s planned Washington visit.
Leavitt stressed to reporters on Wednesday that the new meeting date is not predicated on the end of the Iran war. However, she pointed out that at the outset of the war, officials indicated it would last an expected four to six weeks.
"We are very close to meeting the core objectives of operation Epic Fury and this military mission continues unabated," she told reporters.
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