Global Energy Crisis Looms Over Trump's China Visit; Trade, Taiwan and Iran War Dominates Meet |WION

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]All right, so let's start with the big story that we're tracking on VOA at this hour. The American President Donald Trump has landed in Beijing for a high-stakes summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

[00:00:11]The world, of course, awaits what the meeting between the two leaders will look like.

[00:00:15]But Trump says that he'll ask Xi Jinping to open up China for American firms.

[00:00:20]Whereas China has said that it stands ready to work with the United States expanding on cooperation.

[00:00:26]Upon Trump's arrival in Beijing, the Chinese children, dressed in blue and white uniforms, waved American and Chinese flags.

[00:00:50]The Chinese Vice President Han Zheng greeted Trump as he descended the steps of Air Force One.

[00:01:04]But this is Donald Trump's first visit to China since 2017 and the first in-person meeting with the Chinese president in over 6 months.

[00:01:12]The United States and China have long sought to stabilize their ties as the two countries are facing growing tensions over trade, technology, Taiwan, and the Iran war.

[00:01:22]But before leaving for China, Trump said that he expects a long talk with Xi about Iran, which sells much of its sanctioned oil to China, pretty much 90% of it.

[00:01:34]He also then asserted that Washington needs no help from the Chinese for the Iran war.

[00:01:41]And that Xi Jinping had been relatively good on the topic.

[00:01:45]The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that on Wednesday it welcomes Donald Trump's visit and that China stands ready to work with the United States to expand cooperation and to manage differences.

[00:01:55]A global energy crisis looms over Donald Trump's Beijing visit. Trump is expected to encourage Xi Jinping to push the Chinese ally Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point that is vital for oil trade, and to agree to a peace deal.

[00:02:11]Meanwhile, Beijing is also growing impatient as energy markets remain a royal due to the Hormuz blockade and no breakthrough in the Iran war.

[00:02:21]The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday to step up mediation efforts between Iran and the United States.

[00:02:29]Now, Trump's China visit also focuses heavily on trade. A host of top CEOs, including Nvidia's chief Jensen Huang, Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple's Tim Cook, among others are in Beijing [music] along with Donald Trump.

[00:02:44]Now, ahead of the major summit in Beijing, Donald Trump has also announced that he plans to discuss the US arms sales to Taiwan with the Chinese president. And this move marks a departure from the long-standing US policy of not consulting Beijing on defense support for Taiwan that is aimed at de-escalating tensions while navigating economic ties.

[00:03:06]Now, arms sales to Taiwan have long been a flash point in the United States and China relations. In December 2025, Trump announced a record-breaking defense package for the island valued at a whopping $11 million, marking the largest such deal in American history.

[00:03:27]All right. Now, joining us on the broadcast, we've got our correspondent Susan Terani, who's joining us live from New York. Susan, this is a high-stakes meeting. Give us a sense of what's on the agenda considering that Donald Trump has blown hot and cold when he talks about China.

[00:03:46]Yeah, a high-stakes meeting indeed, Muhammad. Not only is it the fog of the Iran war that's hovering over this meeting almost 9 years after President Trump visited China for the first time.

[00:03:59]But then you have global shipping routes that are very important to both sides to get reopened and get sorted out and also technology competition. Which just the fact that so many tech leaders are on the strip with President Trump is a testament to that. You outlined very well what's at stake. Of course, trade talks are high on the agenda on the part of Washington. But for China, it's very important that the issue of Strait of Hormuz gets resolved because as you mentioned, uh China is Iran's biggest oil customer. And ultimately this energy instability is affecting it. Uh one important point is the issue of rare earth minerals that hasn't been discussed widely. China is dominant in certain uh rare earth minerals. And rare earth minerals, of course, are very important not only for the AI age that both sides are looking very closely at.

[00:04:55]But the technological advances that the United States has been taking. So while the United States is ahead in those technology aspects like semiconductors and whatnot, China really holds this monopoly and dominance on certain rare earth minerals that the United States needs. I think that's uh sort of an important nugget that's going to be very visible in these trade talks. But nonetheless, observers, analysts, and those watching this trip very closely are managing expectations. There isn't going to be expected to be any breakthrough regarding Iran. One, because not only the president said that he doesn't need uh China's help, although he would be welcome to it. But secondly, many believe that, you know, ultimately while China is very heavily, deeply uh invested in Iran economically, it's hard to imagine how much sway it has on the IRGC leadership right now. Interesting.

[00:05:50]Now, this visit by Donald Trump to China is being seen as some kind of a charm offensive by Donald Trump. He's accompanied by the who's who of the American business leadership.

[00:06:02]Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, and the likes are all accompanying Donald Trump. Now, Trump wants to turn America back into a major manufacturing hub. This is a position that China currently holds. It is the manufacturing hub of the world.

[00:06:16]So, what sort of a business equation is Donald Trump really looking for while dealing with Xi Jinping?

[00:06:27]So, the president really is going there hoping to have a rebalancing of the economy, of trade ties. China holds a trade surplus against the United States.

[00:06:38]We have many Chinese products being imported here, really flooding the market, but it doesn't go the other way around. And this is really an important competition for the United States to try to balance it. They say that they don't want free trade with China, they just want fair trade. And the job losses as a result of this for everyday Americans has really been noteworthy. And then you have the purchase of American agricultural goods. American farmers are going to be watching this trip very closely hoping that with the rise of diesel prices, soybean farmers, for example, hope that China will be a bigger purchaser of soybean as well.

[00:07:19]And you know, bringing key manufacturing back to the United States has been on the agenda for the Trump administration, but with the existence of China and again flooding the markets with so many things from cars to other things, it's it's really been a challenge just throughout the years for the US. Now, whether or not China will agree to this, it has in the past, but it hasn't really delivered to that extent. But also you have to take a look at where China stands right now. It does look like it's powerful from the outside. It definitely has a lot of leverage when it comes to the rare earth minerals, as I mentioned, but also robotics and batteries, as well. China has a slowing growing economy right now. It has youth unemployment, weak consumer spending, and then pressure on its energy supplies because of the Strait of Hormuz. So, it sort of doesn't have much option. It's export economy and import into foreign countries. That's the only way it can keep its economy afloat. So, where they try to find that balance, I think it'll be interesting to watch. Indeed. Thank you, Susan Tehrani, for joining us with those updates. This is going to be an interesting meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, and we'll of course continue tracking the developments there.