Pictured here is the last time a sitting U.S. president made a state visit to China. President Donald Trump traveled to Beijing in November 2017 during his first term to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.Pool | Getty ImagesBEIJING — The Iran war is likely to take center stage in the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping, leaving less scope to resolve issues like tariffs and rare earth supplies.U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already said that Iran will be a topic in the meetings, which are due to take place May 14 and 15. And earlier this week, China hosted Iran’s foreign minister for the first time since the war began in late February — raising hopes for a peace deal, sending oil prices lower and fueling stock-market gains.The U.S. government declined China’s invitation to organize industry-specific meetings between senior Chinese leaders and U.S. CEOs, thinking it could make American businesses appear too close to Beijing, according to a U.S. executive with direct knowledge of the arrangements. As of Tuesday, the White House had yet to formally invite executives to join Trump on the trip, and a proposed list of two dozen leaders could be halved, the person added.Boeing and Citigroup CEOs are among those set to accompany Trump, two separate sources said. The U.S. aircraft giant is expected to seal its first large order from China in nearly a decade around the summit.Xi has hosted a dozen national leaders this year, from the U.K. to South Korea — who often bring large business delegations. Still, corporations may not object to the decreased focus if it resolves a large geopolitical overhang for them.An end to the Iran war would be a “great relief to global business,” said Hai Zhao, a director of international political studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state-affiliated think tank. It would “be remembered as very much the success” for the Trump-Xi summit.However, the U.S. and Iran have traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz again, each blaming the other for initiating the attack. Just a few days earli …
