New Delhi will be one of the strategic backdrops to the meeting between Xi and Trump, say experts.
For China, improving ties with India also means stabilising relations with a country that has simultaneously deepened its strategic relationship with the US. For New Delhi, the Modi-Xi thaw opens another diplomatic channel with Beijing even as India maintains defence and security ties with the US. And for Washington, India's position matters because the US-China contest is increasingly playing out across the wider Indo-Pacific.
The newly passed Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 would also be a talking point among the major issues shaping the meeting between the leaders of the world's two superpowers. China faces the risk of 100% US tariffs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is on a three-day visit to the US, as Washington and Beijing seek to manage their ties amid growing vulnerabilities. But Xi's India visit just two weeks earlier adds another layer to the Trump-Xi talks, bringing New Delhi's growing strategic relevance into focus.
Xi is meeting Trump for the second time this year. Earlier in May, the two Presidents had met in Beijing. According to Reuters, Xi and Trump are expected to discuss major bilateral issues, while Trump's earlier visit to Beijing in May had established the reciprocal nature of their summitry.
Taiwan is likely to be among the most sensitive subjects.
Xi is expected to press Trump to halt US arms sales to Taiwan, invoking the 1982 US-China joint communique. Beijing regards Taiwan as its territory and has repeatedly described the issue as a core diplomatic concern.
The meetings also come against a wider economic and technological contest involving tariffs, rare earths, artificial intelligence (AI) and trade. The UK-based Financial Times (FT) newspaper reported that extending the existing trade truce is among Xi's key objectives, alongside discussions on AI, the Iran war and major US agricultural and aviation purchases.
Xi Jinping has called for extensive cooperation with Washington to avoid the “Thucydides trap” that could put the US and China on a military collision course amid rising tensions over artificial intelligence, trade and Taiwan.
At the start of his summit meeting with Donald Trump in the White House, the Chinese president laid out terms for a mutual understanding that he said could steer the two competing superpowers away from future military conflict and on to a road of mutual gain.
Rather than confrontation, conditions for “achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again go hand in hand” should be the goal Xi said, citing Trump’s political catchphrase.
Xi said, “the Thucydides trap can be overcome”, refering to the phenomenon, defined by the Greek historian, of tensions that arise when an emerging power challenges the dominance of an established power.
Xi invoked the phrase in his meeting with Trump in Beijing in May, asking the US president how he planned to avoid it.
His proposals for lessening tensions – which also included the invitation of 100,000 young Americans to visit China on student exchanges – come amid a period of intense competition between the two powers over artificial intelligence and trade, with each side imposing tariffs on the other.
Trump said that he had forged “a truly great friendship” with Xi. “President Xi and I have made tremendous strides on the issues facing our two countries,” he said. “Our teams have been working to encourage a more balances trading relationship, including the new market access for American farmers and ranchers.”
He said the current visit would include discussion overs security, technology and AI – which he called “super intelligence”, a term he introduced in his speech to the United Nations general assembly on Tuesday.
Xi also extolled his personal relationship with his American counterpart, saying: “President Trump and I have respect for each other. We have built personal rapport and stayed in touch.”
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