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Trump Meets with President Xi in Zhongnanhai, May 15, 2026

May 15, 2026 · The White House · 0:01:52

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump delivered brief closing remarks at Zhongnanhai in Beijing on May 15, 2026, at the end of his state visit to China. “I want to thank you very much. This has been an incredible visit. I think a lot of good has come of it. We’ve made some fantastic trade deals — great for both countries,” he said of President Xi Jinping: “He’s a man I respect greatly. Become really a friend. We’ve known each other now 11 years, almost 12 years.”

On Iran, the President said the two leaders see the question alike: “We feel very similar in Iran. We want that to end. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the straits open. We’re closing it now. They closed it and we closed it on top of them. But we want the straits open, and we want them to get it ended.” He closed by announcing the return engagement: “On September 24th or thereabouts, President Xi’s going to be coming to the United States, and we will be reciprocal, like reciprocal trade. The visit will be reciprocal.”

Why it matters

These are the President’s own closing words for the May 2026 Beijing summit — the visit’s trade deals claimed, the Iran alignment stated, and the September 2026 return visit announced on the record, in the presence of the host. The return visit he previewed here is the state visit recorded later in this chronicle, including the September 24 State Dinner. It is recorded on the Foreign Policy & Defense hub.

Scoreboard watch

The dated commitment stated here — President Xi’s reciprocal visit to the United States on or about September 24, 2026 — is the baseline against which the September state visit in this collection is recorded.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump meets with President Xi in Zhongnanhai,” Beijing, China, May 15, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by President Trump in his remarks.