Xi and Trump to meet twice again this year

President Xi Jinping wrapped up his state visit to Washington on Friday by announcing that he will meet US President Donald Trump two more times before the end of the year, doubling the number of face-to-face discussions between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies in 2026. The two leaders met behind closed doors for 90 minutes on Thursday, when they discussed issues such as the Middle East, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, according to the official Chinese government readout of the meeting. Trump told reporters on Friday that he and Xi discussed the Iran war, but did not offer additional details. Xi is hosting the Apec summit in Shenzhen in November Xi extended an invitation for Trump and first lady Melania Trump to go to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen in November and noted that they could meet again a month later at the G20 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami golf club in Florida. “We do welcome Mr President and the first lady to visit China,” Xi said. Trump responded, “We will, and we’ll be speaking a lot.” He later confirmed the two meetings in a post on social media. (AP) Edited by Robert Kemp