PRESENT DANGERS
Iran looms over the Trump-Xi summit
Ilan Berman
May 9, 2026

President Trump is headed to China this coming week for that long-awaited summit with Xi Jinping. The agenda is a packed one, because he and the Chinese president have a great deal of bilateral issues to talk about. Iran, though, is shaping up to be a significant subject as well, and it’s one that could influence all the others. Here’s what I mean. When the current conflict started back in late February, the White House was expecting it to be over by the time Trump made his way to Beijing. It was also pretty confident that the war would end in a way that gave the U.S. added leverage over the PRC. Things haven’t turned out quite so. More than two months on, the U.S. conflict with Iran is still simmering, despite the current ceasefire, and Washington is still trying to pressure Tehran into some sort of deal. READ MORE