Trump arrives in Beijing: a look at every US president who has visited China

Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with trade, Taiwan and the war in Iran expected to dominate the agenda.

How many times has President Trump visited China?

The visit marks Trump’s second presidential trip to China after his first in 2017, and places him among a relatively small group of US presidents to travel to the country since diplomatic relations began to thaw during the Cold War.

Every US president who has visited China

Only eight US presidents have visited China while in office:

• Richard Nixon (1972)
• Gerald Ford (1975)
• Ronald Reagan (1984)
• George H.W. Bush (1989)
• Bill Clinton (1998)
• George W. Bush (2001, 2002, 2005, 2008)
• Barack Obama (2009, 2014, 2016)
• Donald Trump (2017, 2026)

Nixon’s 1972 visit remains the most historic, opening relations between Washington and Beijing after decades of isolation between the two powers.

Since then, presidential visits have often coincided with major geopolitical moments, including trade negotiations, Olympic Games, G20 summits and high-level diplomatic meetings.

Trump’s latest visit comes at a particularly tense period in US-China relations, with disagreements over tariffs, technology, Taiwan and Middle East policy continuing to strain ties between the world’s two largest economies.

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