Maryland [US], May 13 : US President Donald Trump departed for his high-stakes three-day visit to China on Tuesday (local time).
The much-anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to feature discussions on several aspects of bilateral ties, with Trump indicating that trade would be a key topic on the agenda.
The visit will mark Trump's seventh face-to-face meeting with Xi and the first trip by a US President to China since 2017.
Also, First Lady Melania Trump will not be accompanying US President Trump to China during this visit, as per the White House.
Ahead of his departure for China, Trump interacted with the media and expressed optimism about the visit. In a message to the Chinese people, he said the trip would help forge stronger ties between the two nations for decades to come.
"We're going to have a great relationship for many, many decades to come. My relationship with President Xi is a fantastic one. We've always gotten along and we're doing very well with China. Working with China's been very good. So we look forward to it", Trump said.
He also told the media, "You're going to see that good things are going to happen. This is going to be a very exciting trip."
When asked if Xi Jinping would help in making a deal with Iran, Trump said, "It might be. I don't think we need any help with Iran. They're defeated militarily, and they'll either do the right thing or we'll finish the job. They're either going to do the right thing or we're just going to finish the job."
The US President told the media that among the several items for discussions with China, trade would be a key focus area.
"We're going to be talking with President Xi about a lot of different things. I would say more than anything else will be trade," he said.
Trump is accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, and Ambassador Monica Crowley aboard Air Force One.
Others accompanying President Trump are White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Beau Harrison, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, Assistant to the President & White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung, and President's Science and Tech Advisor Michael Kratsios.
Also aboard Air Force One are Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Ross Worthington and Walt Nauta.
Earlier, a White House official said that over a dozen business and tech leaders representing major companies across technology, finance, defence, and consumer sectors would be a part of the American delegation.
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