U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he plans to visit China early next year, expressing confidence in reaching a “fair” trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping and downplaying the likelihood of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Speaking to reporters alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House, Trump said he expects to finalize a trade agreement with Xi during their meeting later this month in South Korea, where both leaders will attend an Asia-Pacific summit.
“I’ve been invited to go to China, and I’ll be doing that sometime fairly early next year,” Trump said. “I think we’ll end up with a very strong trade deal. Both of us will be happy.”
Trump also voiced optimism about his relationship with Xi, dismissing reports that Beijing could move to seize Taiwan by 2027. “I think we’ll be just fine with China. China doesn’t want to do that,” he said. “Now that doesn’t mean it’s not the apple of his eye, because probably it is, but I don’t see anything happening.”
While stopping short of pledging U.S. military intervention to defend Taiwan, Trump emphasized America’s unmatched military strength, saying, “We have the best of everything, and nobody’s going to mess with that.”
He added that he intends to both ease tensions with Beijing and deepen defense cooperation with U.S. allies, including expediting the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
