White House says Trump will meet Xi in China in May

A long-awaited meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will take place in Beijing on May 14 and 15, the White House said Wednesday.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump will also host Xi and Madame Peng Liyuan for a "reciprocal visit" in Washington, D.C., at a to-be-announced date later this year, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing.

The announcement amounts to a roughly six-week postponement of the China summit, which was expected to occur in late March and early April.

But Trump said in mid-March that the U.S. had asked to delay that meeting "by a month or so" in light of the Iran war.

In a Truth Social post after Wednesday's press briefing, Trump said that U.S. representatives are "finalizing preparations for these Historic Visits."

"I look very much forward to spending time with President Xi in what will be, I am sure, a Monumental Event," he said in the post.

The Trump administration has said it expects the war — which began on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran — will last around five weeks, though some officials have offered varying timelines.

Asked Wednesday if the new schedule for Trump's China trip means that the U.S. expects the war will be wound down by mid-May, Leavitt said, "We've always estimated approximately four to six weeks, so you could do the math on that."