Some of the elements of that complex mix were suggested by the timeline, starting when the two leaders met for roughly 100 minutes last year in South Korea, their first face-to-face meeting since Trump’s return to the White House.
In a tactical truce, the US agreed at the October summit to ease certain tariffs while China resumed soybean imports, suspended some rare earth export controls and stepped up fentanyl curbs.
Both sides framed it as a year-long cooling-off period, with early momentum driven by working groups on long-standing issues including trade, investment, agriculture, security and technology.
These groups met regularly through December, according to sources familiar with the preparations. The initial goal was to tee up concrete outcomes ahead of a landmark summit planned for early 2026 in Beijing – Trump’s first visit to China since 2017.
By January, the process had begun to slow. Beijing sent draft proposals to Washington, but received mostly silence in response, leaving Chinese officials puzzled by the lack of engagement, sources said.
One source suggested that a working group on investment appeared to have quietly faded, signalling a narrowing of ambitions amid political sensitivity over doing business with China as well as disappointment for Beijing.
China has sought more investment from the United States to counter domestic stagnation, circumvent US tariffs and blunt technological isolation, while Chinese companies have increasingly faced scrutiny and suspicion in the US.
Compounding the slowdown were logistical and substantive clashes over the proposed Beijing dates. Getting the summit back on track in short order could be difficult, analysts said.
“It is probably challenging to find a three-day window for Trump to go to China, but I’m confident he will go in the first half of this year,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “The war has to end first, though.”
Two sources said China had initially preferred late April or early May to allow more preparation time and avoid overlapping domestic priorities. The US side, however, insisted on Mar 31 to Apr 2 and Beijing ultimately acquiesced, despite reservations.
One person said there had been disquiet from the Chinese side for weeks, partly because summit planning had started late and was disorganised. The source said Beijing had wanted the trip to start later in April, but Trump had pushed for the earlier window.
The Chinese side was willing to go along but their expectations for fruitful summit outcomes diminished. Ultimately, just the fact they would meet emerged as a deliverable, in hopes of stabilising ties, according to the source familiar with Beijing’s thinking.
The US was more eager to see the summit happen quickly while Beijing was more keen to see it come off well, according to another source familiar with the talks.
On Mar 18, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt signalled the new timeline could slip beyond May, citing Trump’s domestic priorities and noting that Xi, too, was a “busy man”.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-united-states-trump-xi-jinping-summit-visit-postpone-reasons-iran-war-geopolitics-6010686
