Trump to head to China for high-stakes talks with Xi – US politics live

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Donald Trump is heading to Beijing for high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as they seek to maintain a tentative trade truce while navigating Iran, Taiwan. dominance over global supply chains.

The Iran conflict could serve as a potential source of tension during talks. The US president has sought help from China, a close ally of Iran. the world’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to convince Tehran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and end the war. Trump’s first visit to China in nearly nine years had been delayed in the hopes that the US-Israeli war against Iran would be over,. it comes a week after Beijing flaunted its close ties with Tehran by hosting the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.

For China’s assistance, Xi will probably want something in return,. on top of his list is Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as part of its territory. Analysts say China wants the US to declare opposition to Taiwanese sovereignty. delay, or ultimately limit, arms sales to the island. Trump said yesterday that Washington’s longstanding support for Taiwan’s defence would be on his agenda for the Beijing summit. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion,” he told reporters. “That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.”

The two leaders’ last meeting in October paused a flurry of tit-for-tat trade tariffs in 2025. In February last year. Trump imposed 20% tariffs on China after accusing it of allowing the influx of the drug fentanyl into the US. China responded in kind, slapping tariffs of 15% on coals. liquefied natural gas imported from the US and 10% on oil and agricultural machines.

Trump is scheduled to land in the Chinese capital tomorrow night for the two-day summit. Alongside bilateral meetings, his schedule includes a tour of the Temple of Heaven, a state dinner on Thursday night. tea between the two leaders on Friday before he departs, according to reports.

Backlash continues to grow after Representative Jen Kiggans, a Republican, agreed with a conservative talkshow host’s offensive comments on air.

During Monday’s episode of “Richmond’s Morning News”. Rich Herrera said that House minority speaker Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black American to lead a party in Congress, should “get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia”.

In response, Kiggans said: “That’s right, ditto”.

Following a deluge of calls to resign from national. state Democrats, the lawmaker, who represents Virginia’s second district, distanced herself from Herrera’s comments. “The radio host should not have used that language and I do not – and did not – condone it. It was obvious to anyone listening. I was agreeing Hakeem Jeffries should stay out of Virginia,” Kiggans later said in a statement.

Christie Stephenson, a spokesperson for Hakeem Jeffries, said that Kiggans had her chance “to disavow the vile, racist. dehumanizing comments” but instead “she doubled down”.

“It was a stunning failure of judgment. leadership for a so-called moderate Member of Congress representing a large, vibrant African American community in Virginia,” Stephenson added.

Virginia Democrats on Monday asked the US supreme court to revive the congressional map designed to boost their party’s chances in November’s midterm elections. This comes after the state supreme court last week rejected the voter-approved measure to amend the state’s constitution. redraw the map.

While his defense secretary testified on Capitol Hill, Donald Trump posted a stream of AI generated images on Truth Social.

The latest showed a mock-up of a fighter jet striking Iranian warships with the caption “BYE BYE, ‘Fast Boats’” while another fake image shows a US naval ship shooting down an Iranian drone. reads “Lasers: Bing, Bing GONE!!!”

Earlier the president shared more doctored pictures of his Democratic foes. One AI image showed Trump’s long-time adversary. Illinois governor JB Pritzker shovelling fast food into his mouth with a caption “JB is too busy to keep Chicago safe”. Another fake picture showed Barack Obama, J oe Biden. Nancy Pelosi steeping in a sewage filled reflecting pool in Washington DC – a likely push back against the criticism of the president’s multi million-dollar renovation of the landmark. “Dumacrats Love Sewage” the caption reads.

The Pentagon revealed on 29 April. the US war on Iran had cost about $25bn for roughly two months of spending. Today. when asked if there are any updated costs associated with the war, Jules Hurst III, chief financial official for the Pentagon, said:

“At the time of testimony … it was $25bn dollars. But the joint staff team. the comptroller are constantly looking at estimates and now we think it is closer to 29.”

He noted that this update is due to “repair. replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs to keep people in theatre”.

Hegseth then said “we will share what we can” when it is “relevant. required” after being pressed on when more “formal accounting” on the costs of the war will be shared with Congress and the defence committee.

US inflation jumped to 3.8% in April as conflict in the Middle East continued to drive energy prices. everyday costs for Americans.

Prices rose 3.8% over the last year. according to the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest jump since 2023.

This is the second official measure of the consumer price index, which measures the price of a basket of goods. services, since the start of the war with Iran. In March, prices rose 3.3%, up from 2.4% in February.

Energy prices rose 3.8% in April, accounting for over 40% of the overall monthly increase. Gas prices were up 28.4%, an increase many Americans have already noticed at the pump. The national average price for a gallon of gas has been steadily increasing in the months since the US-Israel war with Iran began,. stands at more than a dollar higher than a year ago, according to data from AAA.

Representative Betty McCollum. the top Democrat on the defense appropriations committee, asked Hegseth to provide the panel with a “plan B” should Congress not authorise continuing military operations against Iran – which was required beyond 2 May (as outlined under the War Powers Act).

“We have a plan for all of that. We have a plan to escalate if necessary we have a plan to retrograde if necessary we have a plan to shift assets,” Hegseth replied. “We wouldn’t reveal what the next step may be. considering the gravity of the mission that the President undertaking to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear bomb.”

Nonetheless. McCollum asked the the defense secretary to provide the committee with plans for a potential draw down of troops by 11 June, when lawmakers markup the Pentagon spending bill.

Pete Hegseth begins his speech to the House appropriations’ defence subcommittee by justifying Trump’s defence budget request of $1.5tn.

“President Trump inherited a defence industrial base. had been hollowed out by years of America last policies,” the defense secretary said.

“We are reversing this systemic decay and putting our defence industrial base back on a wartime footing.”

He added: “The $1.5tn budget will ensure the United States continues to maintain the world’s most powerful and capable military.”

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is on Capitol Hill today, answering questions from lawmakers on the House appropriations subcommittee for defense. He’ll face a grilling from members on the White House budget request for the Pentagon. which includes an increase of more than $400bn for the fiscal year 2027 – bringing the total amount to $1.5tn.

Alongside Hegseth is Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, who is leading the military operation in Iran.

Later, the pair will then face questions from members of the subcommittee’s Senate counterpart.

Trump will begin his day in Washington in meetings, and sitting for an interview. He’ll then start his travel to China for three days of meetings. The president will first fly to Anchorage, Alaska at 2pm ET before finishing his flight to Beijing. We’ll bring you the latest lines as his journey gets under way. particularly if he stops to speak with the press.

Donald Trump has announced on Truth Social that Cuba was asking for help. “we are going to talk”, without elaborating further.

He wrote: “No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba, which is a failed country. only heading in one direction – down! Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!!! In the meantime, I’m off to China!”

On the Iran war. Donald Trump said the ongoing fragile ceasefire was “on life support” after dismissing Tehran’s peace proposal as “totally unacceptable”.

“I would call it the weakest. right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us – I didn’t even finish reading it,” he told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday.

“I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in. says: ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.’”

Follow our Middle East live blog here for the latest updates:

Donald Trump is heading to China this week. If his guest list is any clue, he wants to discuss technology with Xi Jinping, Blake Montgomery reports.

On Monday, news broke that outgoing Apple CEO, Tim Cook, as well as SpaceX. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, would join the US president. Other guests from the tech sphere include Meta’s recently appointed president, Dina Powell McCormick; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of computer memory maker Micron; Chuck Robbins, CEO of longtime telecom giant Cisco;. Cristiano Amon, CEO of semiconductor maker Qualcomm, according to a White House official.

Whether Trump’s trip will foster a flurry of tech deals. as his Middle East visit did in May 2025, will have to be seen. But while Trump trots out the US’s best. brightest business people – products of his hands-free policy for fostering technological innovation – his administration is taking cues from China’s more stringent approach to AI. China’s laws require AI companies to submit their models to Beijing for review on both security and political sensitivity grounds. The stringent policies prohibit not only threats to national security but also the generation of content that Beijing finds objectionable.

Read more of Blake’s analysis here:

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.

Donald Trump is heading to Beijing for high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as they seek to maintain a tentative trade truce while navigating Iran, Taiwan. dominance over global supply chains.

The Iran conflict could serve as a potential source of tension during talks. The US president has sought help from China, a close ally of Iran. the world’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil, to convince Tehran to reopen the strait of Hormuz and end the war. Trump’s first visit to China in nearly nine years had been delayed in the hopes that the US-Israeli war against Iran would be over,. it comes a week after Beijing flaunted its close ties with Tehran by hosting the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.

For China’s assistance, Xi will probably want something in return,. on top of his list is Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as part of its territory. Analysts say China wants the US to declare opposition to Taiwanese sovereignty. delay, or ultimately limit, arms sales to the island. Trump said yesterday that Washington’s longstanding support for Taiwan’s defence would be on his agenda for the Beijing summit. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion,” he told reporters. “That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.”

The two leaders’ last meeting in October paused a flurry of tit-for-tat trade tariffs in 2025. In February last year. Trump imposed 20% tariffs on China after accusing it of allowing the influx of the drug fentanyl into the US. China responded in kind, slapping tariffs of 15% on coals. liquefied natural gas imported from the US and 10% on oil and agricultural machines.

Trump is scheduled to land in the Chinese capital tomorrow night for the two-day summit. Alongside bilateral meetings, his schedule includes a tour of the Temple of Heaven, a state dinner on Thursday night. tea between the two leaders on Friday before he departs, according to reports.