The Latest: Xi and Trump summit focuses on business links as Chinese leader issues Taiwan warning
Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump started a crucial series of meetings in Beijing on Thursday in a U.S.-China summit where stability in the relationship is the main goal of the two days of discussions.
The White House and Chinese state media said the leaders concluded their meeting Thursday morning after about two hours. Trump is expected to leave just after midday Friday after a final private meeting with Xi. But few breakthroughs are expected on divisive issues ranging from the Iran war, trade, technology and Taiwan.
Trump hopes to focus the summit talks on trade and deals for China to buy more agricultural products and passenger planes, setting up a board to address their differences and avoid a repeat of the trade war ignited last year after Trump’s tariff hikes.
In their closed-door meeting, Xi told Trump that if Taiwan is handled well, U.S.-China relations “will enjoy overall stability.” If not, the two countries risk “clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” Xi said, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
Trump in December authorized an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory. The U.S. has not yet moved forward with delivery.
Here's the latest:
Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military leader in the Middle East, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that reducing civilian casualties is a particular passion of his. But he admitted that an office in U.S. Central Command focused on civilian-harm reduction was cut from 10 employees to one.
Cooper said those people are still focused on reducing civilian casualties but are “integrated into other capacities.” The admiral added that dozens if not hundreds of people are focused on reducing civilian deaths.
Under questioning from Democratic lawmakers, he declined to estimate civilians casualties in the Iran war. He said the bombing of a school at the beginning of the war is still under investigation. He said there’s no evidence that corroborates reporting that several schools and hospitals were also bombed.
His 6-year-old son was spotted in a Chinese-style outfit as he walked with his father in the Great Hall of the People, where Trump and Xi met in a high-stakes summit.
Musk is part of the U.S. business delegation that met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday in the same venue.
In a video posted by China’s state media, the boy is seen wearing a blue Chinese-style vest with golden-colored knot buttons on the side, drawing praise on Chinese social media.
Musk posted on his social media site X that the boy is learning Mandarin Chinese.
The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East conceded that Iran still maintains a “very moderate if not small capability to continue strikes” in the region amid questions from lawmakers Thursday.
In response to questions from Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Cooper also said the U.S. has the military power to permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
However, when Slotkin pressed on why Cooper hasn’t done so, especially amid rising gas prices rising for Americans, Cooper deferred to policymakers amid ongoing peace negotiations.
Adm. Brad Cooper told the Senate Armed Services Committee that American forces have learned a lot from the Ukrainian military, which is battle-hardened from its war with Russia.
“We adopted a large number of tactics, techniques and procedures that the Ukrainians have passed us that have helped us defend Americans,” Cooper said.
Ukraine has passed on expertise to the U.S. specifically regarding anti-drone warfare. Iran had launched swarms of drones against U.S. and allied forces, killing some Americans.
Despite the damage and destruction inflicted by the U.S. military on Iranian military forces, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East says Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is still a major force in running the country.
In response to questions from Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, about who’s in charge in Iran, Adm. Brad Cooper said the Revolutionary Guard is still “exercising significant authority.”
However, Cooper deferred to diplomats and negotiators on whether the paramilitary force is part of the peace negotiations.
The top U.S. military leader in Africa, Gen. Dagvin Anderson, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the U.S. military’s abilities on the continent have been curtailed by force reductions and funding cuts in recent years.
To make his point, Anderson cited the kidnapping of missionary Kevin Rideout last fall in Niger. Anderson said the U.S. military lacked the relationships and access to quickly get Rideout back as the U.S. military has done during previous kidnappings of Americans.
Anderson gave the example after Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa lamented the shrinking footprint of American forces in Africa, which she said is being encroached upon by Russian forces.
The top U.S. commander in the Middle East said that while he believes Iran’s military capabilities are “dramatically degraded,” he noted that Iran’s able to influence shipping with rhetoric alone.
“Their voice is very loud, and the threats are clearly heard by the merchant industry and the insurance industry,” Adm. Brad Cooper told lawmakers Thursday.
Cooper also said the US military has wide range of contingencies and retains the ability to escort shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. However, he deferred to policy makers about the best path forward amid the “time of sensitive negotiations.”
At the state banquet in Beijing, the Chinese military band broke into a tune the president has made his signature walk-off song, the disco hit, “Y.M.C.A.”
The song was played during a private portion of the dinner, a White House official confirmed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the private portion of the dinner.
Trump closes his campaign rallies and most official events with the song, which he dances to while throwing slight fist pumps into the air.
In 2017, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” was played when Trump and Xi inspected Chinese honor guards at the welcome ceremony, an unusual choice intended to impress Trump.
— Michelle L. Price and Didi Tang
Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that American forces have stopped using high-end munitions to shoot down Iran’s drones.
The nation’s limited stockpiles of expensive weapon systems, including advanced missile interceptors, have become a lightning rod during the Iran war. American forces were using them to defend against Iranian drones. But Cooper says the U.S. military is now using lower-cost munitions.
The admiral said Iran only has 10% of its drones left. Despite a fragile month-long ceasefire, skirmishes have flared between Iranian and American forces.
Senators opened the hearing into the state of forces in the Middle East and Africa by expressing concern about the future of the Iran war and the American presence in Africa.
“We are 75 days into this war with Iran and I am concerned the president does not have a credible strategy to win,” Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday.
Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the committee, also said Africa has “increasingly become the epicenter of global terrorism” and stressed that he felt U.S. Africa Command should remain an independent combatant command.
The hashtag “Lei Jun and Musk photo together “ drew more than 20 million views on the Chinese social media platform.
Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, while Lei is CEO of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.
Some users said Musk’s wink while taking the picture stole the spotlight, with others saying Lei nailed his celebrity chase.
Rubio said Xi has raised the issue with Trump in the past, however.
Rubio also told NBC that the U.S. laid out its position on Taiwan with “strategic ambiguity” because they won’t want to see a conflict over the island, which China wants to reunify with the mainland. It hasn’t ruled out using force to do so.
“We think it would be a terrible mistake to force that through force or anything of that nature. There would be repercussions for that, globally, not just in the United States. And we kind of leave it there,” Rubio said.
He tried to clarify Trump’s comments that he wasn’t thinking about gasoline prices and U.S. consumers with regard to the Iran war.
“We’re not going to let Iran use that as leverage,” Rubio told NBC News in an interview. “I think what the president is making clear is, if the Iranians think that they are going to use our domestic politics to pressure him into a bad deal, that’s not going to happen.”
Rubio said the U.S. is taking “extraordinary measures” to keep gasoline prices lower than in other parts of the world.
He said in an interview with NBC news that China always raises the issue of the self-governing island, but the U.S. stance did not change in Trump’s meeting with Xi.
“U.S. policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here today. It was raised. They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position and we move on to the other topics,” Rubio said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked in a CNBC interview about whether China was pushing the U.S. to limit arm sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island China considers to be part of its own territory.
Bessent said he’s confident Trump “understands the issues” and will be “very resolute” in his response.
The treasury secretary did not preview what that response would be as the administration has authorized an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan.
“I’m not going to get out ahead of the president,” Bessent said. “You’ll be hearing more from him either this evening, tomorrow.”
“We’re not asking for China’s help. We don’t need their help,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with NBC News.
He said China agreed with the U.S. that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and brought that up in their meetings.
He said the Chinese told the U.S. team in meetings that, “they are not in favor of militarizing the straits of Hormuz, and they’re not in favor of a tolling system.”
“It’s good that we have alliance, or at least agreement on that point,” Rubio said.
Wall Street is poised to open with gains Thursday following another record-setting day and developments emerging from President Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
S&P futures rose 0.3%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.7%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.2% early. The S&P and Nasdaq both hit record highs Wednesday.
Oil prices were effectively unchanged, with no clear ending to the Iran war after more than two months. Some were hoping the Trump-Xi meeting could bring results, after U.S. officials said Beijing could use its close economic ties with Tehran to press Iran to reopen the Strait or Hormuz.
On Thursday, the White House said Trump and Xi discussed enhancing U.S.-China economic cooperation. Both sides also agreed the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened.
During Donald Trump’s toast at the state banquet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the U.S. president said citizens of the United States and China have long shared a “deep sense of mutual respect” and used history to illustrate the point.
Benjamin Franklin published the sayings of the philosopher Confucius, Trump said.
Chinese admirers of President George Washington gifted a stone tablet honoring his memory to adorn the Washington Monument. The tablet was inscribed with the words of a Chinese official who called Washington a great general and statesman, Trump said.
Chinese workers helped lay the railroad tracks that connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States while American travelers to China helped spread literacy and modern medicine, he said.
Trump also noted President Theodore Roosevelt, acting on a request from China’s ambassador, provided money to establish Xi’s alma mater, Tsinghua University.
The menu, according to the White House, included some Chinese elements.
Lobster in Tomato Soup, Crispy Beef Ribs, Beijing Roast Duck, Stewed Seasonal Vegetables and Slow-Cooked Salmon in Mustard Sauce.
Guests also dined on Pan-Fried Pork Bun, Trumpet Shell-Shaped Pastry and Tiramisu, as well as fruits and ice cream.
Before the leaders entered the room, a steady stream of guests approached Elon Musk at his table, snapping selfies with the tech CEO.
Lei Jun, CEO of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, was seen shaking hands with Musk and taking a selfie with him.
U.S. and Chinese officials say Trump and Xi could potentially meet four times in 2026.
The meetings could include the Group of 20 meeting in Miami and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Guangzhou later this year.
Trump extended a Sept. 24 invitation to Xi and his wife, Madame Peng, during his reciprocal toast.
“And we look forward to it,” Trump said.
He also thanked Xi for his hospitality.
“This has been an amazing period of time,” Trump said.
“This is a great honor. It was a fantastic day,” Trump said. “It really was a magnificent welcome like none other.”
He described his talks with Xi as “extremely positive conversations” and said everything that they discussed was “all good for the United States and China.
“And it was a great honor to be with you,” the U.S. president said, referring to his Chinese counterpart.
Xi Jinping called for the China and the U.S. to work together as partners rather than rivals in an opening toast ahead of the state banquet that was largely positive though measured.
“We both believe that China and the U.S. relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. We must make it work and never mess it up,” Xi said.
Xi noted it was the 250th anniversary of American independence.
“Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America Great Again can go hand in hand,” he said. “Both China and U.S. stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation, should be partners rather than rivals.”
He then toasted Trump and the audience.
“China is currently the only risk to regional peace and stability,” Taiwan’s Ministry of Affairs said in response to Xi’s warning Thursday for the U.S. to be careful.
“Even during the meeting between the leaders of the United States and China, the People’s Liberation Army continued to send military aircraft and ships to harass and threaten Taiwan in the region,” the ministry said.
Xi said “Taiwan independence” and cross-strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water, while noting the issue was the most important in the bilateral relationship.
Xi’s stark warning to Trump over Taiwan may indicate the U.S. president did not make concessions Thursday over the island democracy China claims as its own, an analyst said.
Any meaningful concession would have been reflected in Beijing’s official readout of the meeting, said William Yang, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia for International Crisis Group.
“The lack of such mention and the relatively stern tone suggest Trump may not have budged on Taiwan in principle,” Yang said.
Wen-Ti Sung of the Atlantic Council said Xi’s warning of potential conflict signaled Taiwan remains the Chinese government’s biggest red line.
“Taiwan is the identity-defining issue in U.S.-China relations: get Taiwan right and we are friends; get Taiwan wrong and we might become foes before you know it,” Sung said.
U.S. reporters were mainly kept far away from the leaders when they toured the UNESCO heritage site.
But China’s official Xinhua News Agency cited Trump as being impressed to see the Temple of Heaven still standing tall and magnificent after over 600 years, showcasing exquisite Chinese classical architectural art.
Xi said ancient Chinese rulers held sacrificial ceremonies at the temple to pray for national peace and prosperity.
Xi said it showed the traditional Chinese thought that “the people are the foundation of the state, and when the foundation is solid, the state is stable,” according to Xinhua.
Trump said he vividly remembers his 2017 visit to the Forbidden City, Xinhua reported.
The affair brought Trump back to the Great Hall of the People, where he opened his first full day in Beijing in closed-door talks with Xi.
Inside the hall, round tables were draped with white tablecloths.
Key members of Trump’s Cabinet including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent milled about before Trump arrived.
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