By Trevor Hunnicutt and Mei Mei Chu
BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump heads into a series of meetings with China's Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, aiming to secure economic wins, maintain a fragile trade truce and navigate thorny issues such as the Iran war and arms sales to Taiwan.
With his approval ratings badly dented by his war in Iran, Trump's hotly anticipated trip to China - the first by a U.S. president to America's main strategic rival since his last visit there in 2017
- has taken on added significance.
Joining him on the trip is a group of CEOs including Elon Musk and Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, a late addition who boarded Air Force One during a refuelling stop in Alaska en route to the Chinese capital at Trump's request.
Many of those executives, including Huang and Musk, are seeking to resolve issues with China, and Trump has said he will urge Xi to "open up" China to U.S. business.
But the power dynamic has shifted since Trump's last visit in 2017 when China went out of its way to lavish Trump and buy billions in U.S. goods, said Ali Wyne, senior advisor for U.S.-China relations at International Crisis Group.
Back then "China was trying to persuade the United States of its growing status... This time around it's the United States, unprompted, of its own volition, that is acknowledging that status," Wyne said, pointing out Trump revived the term 'G2', referring to a superpower duo, when he last met Xi on the sidelines of an APEC meeting in South Korea in October.
This week's meetings will provide plenty of face time between the leaders: they are scheduled to hold talks at The Great Hall of the People, tour the UNESCO heritage site Temple of Heaven and attend a state banquet on Thursday, before taking tea and lunch together on Friday, according to the White House.
But Trump enters the talks with a weakened hand.
U.S. courts have hemmed in his ability to levy tariffs at will on exports from China and other countries. The Iran war has also boosted inflation at home and escalated the risk that Trump's Republican Party will lose control of one or both legislative branches in November's midterm elections.
Though the Chinese economy has faltered, Xi does not face comparable economic or political pressure.
Nevertheless, both sides are eager to maintain a trade truce struck last October in which Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Xi backed away from choking global supplies of rare earths, vital in making items from electric cars to weapons.
They are also expected to discuss forums to support mutual trade and investment and dialogue on AI issues.
Washington looks to sell Boeing airplanes, farm goods and energy to China to cut a trade deficit that has long irked Trump, while Beijing wants the U.S. to ease curbs on exports of chipmaking equipment and advanced semiconductors, officials involved in the planning said.
Aside from trade matters, Trump is widely expected to encourage China to convince Tehran to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict. But analysts doubt that Xi will be willing to push Tehran hard or end support for its military, given Iran's value to Beijing as a strategic counterweight to the U.S.
TAIWAN
But for Xi, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the democratically governed island claimed by China, will be a top priority.
China reiterated on Wednesday its strong opposition to the sales, with the status of a $14-billion package awaiting Trump's approval still unclear. The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.
"Trump doesn't really have that many of the cards to play. But I don't think that Trump actually sees the situation that way," said Ronan Fu, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan's top government think tank Academia Sinica.
"I don't think that Trump is going to just let Beijing basically ask for whatever they want and then the US will make any concession that Beijing requests."
Xi has a reciprocal visit tentatively planned for later this year, which would be his first visit to the United States since Trump re-took office in 2025.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Mei Mei Chu in Beijing and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Don Durfee and Sanjeev Miglani )
