The three-day visit, which was invited by the Chinese government, comes more than eight years after Trump first visited China during his first term as president.
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Published February 21, 2026
The White House has announced that Donald Trump will visit China from March 31 to April 2, marking the first official visit to Beijing by a US president since Trump’s last visit in 2017.
The dates, confirmed by White House officials on Friday, come as President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping each described relations between the two countries in recent months as “excellent” and “good communication.”
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“It’s going to be a big deal,” President Trump said Thursday of the planned trip.
President Trump said, “We have to make the biggest display ever in China’s history.”
President Trump’s announcement to visit China came just before the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down tariffs he had imposed on countries around the world, a tactic he has openly used to influence other countries to support his policies.
Tariffs are likely to be on the agenda in Beijing, as will China’s response to U.S. trade threats, including the suspension of purchases of soybeans, which had been the top U.S. export to China.
Beijing has already hosted a number of Western leaders in recent months, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, during whose visit he touted new trade deals and the lifting of a ban on Canada buying Chinese electric cars.
China’s rise in global electric vehicle exports comes as the Chinese government has invested heavily in new technology and renewable energy in recent years, and could further differentiate itself from the United States, where President Trump has doubled down on fossil fuel use.
The U.S. government also continues to provide arms sales and other support to Taiwan, which Beijing has pledged to unify with mainland China.
President Trump’s visit to China will be his first since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which the US president at the time dubbed the “China virus.” President Trump then downplayed the potential impact of the virus in the United States, where more than 1 million people have died during the pandemic.
China appears to have stepped up its engagement with the outside world in recent months since reopening its borders in January 2023 after strict self-isolation during the pandemic.
In addition to hosting Western politicians, China has also opened up to popular American live streamers such as Hasan Piker and Darren Watkins Jr., also known as Speed, to attract American citizens to its social media apps.
