Trump to Meet Xi Jinping in Person at APEC, China Trip Planned for 2026

Trump said he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in person for the first time during his second term at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea this fall, and that Xi will visit the United States at an appropriate time, with a separate trip to China planned for early 2026.

APEC 2025 is scheduled for October 31 and November 1, and the exact date for the leaders’ meeting has not been announced. The announcements come as the United States and China continue negotiations on tariffs and a separate dispute over TikTok, the China-owned video app, which has been the subject of legislative and executive actions in Washington.

In a Friday morning call, Trump said the discussion with Xi touched on TikTok and trade and that the conversation was productive. He posted on Truth Social that the two leaders were close to deals on multiple fronts and that they would speak again by phone before meeting at APEC.

Republican lawmakers have pressed for ByteDance, the Beijing-based owner of TikTok, to sell TikTok to a company not affiliated with or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, arguing that any deal must address national security concerns and data access.

The call also suggested that a final agreement to end the tariff standoff could be on the agenda at a future in-person meeting. The United States and China have exchanged hefty tariffs since Trump’s return to the White House in January and immediately imposing hefty tariffs on Beijing and launching a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Xi Jinping’s last visit to the United States was November 2023 for the APEC Summit in San Francisco, where he held a bilateral meeting with then-President Biden. It is not clear when he would travel again, but Trump’s remarks suggest a potential high-level exchange after the China trip in early 2026.