BEIJING (GNP): US President Donald Trump has arrived in Beijing for a state visit to China, marking his first trip to the Chinese capital during his second term in office and the first visit by a US president to China in nearly nine years.
Trump landed at Beijing Capital International Airport, telling reporters that the visit “is going to be amazing” as he looks forward to meetings with President Xi Jinping. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the two leaders will hold in-depth exchanges on major issues concerning bilateral relations, world peace, and development.
During their last meeting in Busan, President Xi told President Trump that the two sides should think big and recognize the long-term benefits of the relationship. Analysts say trade and technology are at the top of the agenda, and the visit is also seen as a critical opportunity for both sides to address security issues and avoid miscalculation.
Su Xiaohui, Associate Research Fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, emphasized the importance of the moment, noting that China and the United States must focus on cooperation, particularly on trade and economic issues, while also determining how to manage and move forward in their relationship.
Mutually Beneficial Trade Relations
Official data from both China and the United States highlight the deeply intertwined nature of their economic relationship. Bilateral trade in goods reached nearly 690 billion US dollars in 2024, representing 275 times the volume recorded in 1979, when the two countries first established diplomatic relations. On a daily basis, the 2024 figure translates to approximately 1.9 billion US dollars per day, meaning just one and a half days of current trade already exceeds the entire year of 1979.
Since 2001, US goods exports to China have skyrocketed at more than three times the growth rate of US exports to the rest of the world. Services trade between the two nations has expanded even faster, with two-way trade in services growing over seven times in 22 years.
The world’s two largest economies remain within each other’s top three trading partners, with trade that is highly complementary as both sides play to their comparative strengths.
In terms of the top five categories of goods in bilateral trade in 2024, China mainly exports goods for people’s daily use, while the United States primarily exports goods used in the manufacturing of products for daily use. This complementary feature is also reflected in services trade, with China selling more goods and the United States offering more services.
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The global economy also benefits significantly from cooperative trade across the Pacific. In 2025, more than one out of every two Teslas sold worldwide rolled out of the Shanghai Gigafactory. A survey by the US-China Business Council further underscores this interdependence, with nearly all American respondents stating that their companies cannot remain globally competitive without operations in China.
CGTN’s Zhao Yunfei, reporting from Beijing Capital International Airport, noted that this is a key moment for both nations to communicate and manage their differences, adding that China views the stability of ties between the world’s two largest economies, based on the spirit of equality, respect, and mutual benefit, as essential for bringing greater certainty to a transforming world.
