President Donald Trump wrote on social media that Iran shot at least four attack drones and hit a cargo ship, but the ship was able to proceed despite the damage. He said the U.S. knocked down the other three drones.

“Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our ceasefire agreement,” Trump wrote.

Iranian state TV said June 26 that three foreign tankers attempting what it called an “unauthorized passage” of the strait were turned back after a warning from its military. The TV report gave no further details.

Iran said it was responding to what it called an “interventionist, irresponsible and provocative” joint statement by the United States and six countries that rejected Iran’s insistence that it could charge tolls on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

“Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz cannot be guaranteed under ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes or decision-making that does not take Iran’s role as a coastal state into account,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on X.

Trump told attendees of a conservative Christian conference later in the day that Iran still has some capability, but not much. “They’re not winning or anything. But they have some capability,” he said, bringing up the drones.

Marco Rubio announces framework for Israel-Lebanon deal

The dispute unfolded just before U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the framework of a new peace deal between Israel and Lebanon, which has long grappled with militants of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, especially since the U.S. attacked Iran in March.

“Israel deserves to live in peace and security,” Rubio said. “The people of northern Israel, in particular, who have been targeted repeatedly by terrorist attacks launched from the territory of Lebanon but not by the Lebanese people, not by the Lebanese government, but by an outside actor who has sought to use that territory to target innocent civilians.”

Describing the deal as the “beginning of the beginning,” Rubio said Lebanon deserves to have “a prosperous and peaceful country” that “in many ways was the envy of the region and of the world.”

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The board voted 7-1 in favor of the rent freeze on Thursday night, as tenants, packed inside El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem, unleashed unbridled joy and relief through delivering on a signature campaign promise for Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The decision will freeze rent increases on one- and two-year leases on rent-stabilized apartments.

The vote considered issues including taxes, wages and inflation when making the decision.

Rent-stabilized apartments are in buildings built between 1947 and 1974 with more than six units, or through a tax incentive program which protects tenants from unpredictable annual rent hikes. It, however, only applies to roughly 41 percent of the city’s rental housing stock.

Mamdani had campaigned on freezing the rent when he ran for mayor last year, one of the key issues that catapulted his candidacy into City Hall to lead the most populous city in the United States.

“This is a historic victory for New York City tenants. After reviewing the data and hearing from New Yorkers across the city, the independent RGB has delivered a freeze on one-year leases, and the first-ever freeze on two- year leases in our city’s history. This is the relief that working people across our city deserve,” Mayor Mamdani said in a statement.

Mayor   has insisted that landlords can weather a rent freeze, but landlords lambasted the decision, who say they are struggling with rising costs, like fuel, oil and insurance. They say a rent freeze would hurt their ability to maintain buildings.

Mamdani also has insisted that the board is independent and that its members would make up their own minds.

“I look forward to the outcome, the decision that they will make,” Mamdani said. “It’s an independent Board, and we trust them to make the decision they come to.”

In a statement following the vote, James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), said, “Tonight’s vote may be politically popular, but it will make New York’s housing crisis worse.”

Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association (NYAA) said the freeze will “destroy the living conditions for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.”

While the outcome seemed like a foregone conclusion, it did not come without drama.

On Thursday morning, hours before the vote, Christina Smyth, a board member appointed by the landlords, abruptly resigned, claiming the outcome was never in doubt.

“The Rent Guidelines Board has stopped being a fact-finding body,” she said in her letter. “This rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze. Everything since has been theater.

The hearings, the reports, the public comment, the data. None of it was ever going to change the result.”

Under the Adams administration, landlords received 12% rent increases, while their net operating incomes rose by 30%.

Renters who struggle with affordability said they can’t afford an increase.

In March, the Mamdani administration launched a new programme to expedite that process and speed up the construction of affordable housing on city-owned properties by cutting red tape. The city created a pool of pre-approved developers that shortened the process by eight months, as well as faster land-use approvals that could speed up construction projects by as much as two years.

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The transcript of Bill Gates’ testimony was released. Gates told lawmakers he believed the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was preparing to blackmail him over his extramarital affairs. The Department of Justice said last year it found no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.

Bill Gates tells Oversight panel that meeting with Epstein was a ‘grave error in judgment’

“I was not blackmailed, but, you know, as you look at these emails, you know, it looks like Mr. Epstein’s brainstorming was going in that direction,” Gates said about materials from the Epstein files released earlier this year by the Department of Justice. “It appears that in many cases he, at least in emails to himself, was sort of rehearsing how either he or he coaching someone else might choose to blackmail me, but none of those messages were ever sent to me.”

After Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates tried to end his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender attempted to use compromising information about Gates’ extramarital affairs to force his way back into Gates’ life — but never explicitly threatened him, Gates told the House Oversight Committee earlier this month, according to a transcript of the closed-door session released Tuesday.

Gates, according to the transcript, said Epstein used an adviser to send him “veiled” threats, appeared to coach Gates’ adviser on how to potentially blackmail him, and mixed fact and fiction to leverage compromising information against the software billionaire.

During the interview, Gates acknowledged having at least three extramarital affairs, though he said that Epstein was involved with none of the women and that Epstein only learned about them after he and Epstein had cut ties.

Gates told lawmakers that his interactions with Epstein were limited to business, that he never witnessed Epstein commit a crime, and that he did not suspect that the women who were traveling with the disgraced financier were victims of sex trafficking. Asked about photos showing him with some of Epstein’s victims, Gates said Epstein occasionally asked to take photographs of Gates with women who Gates said he believed were Epstein’s assistants.

“I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” Gates told lawmakers.

Gates told the Oversight panel that he first began to meet with Epstein in 2011 because he thought the financier’s purported connections with the wealthy could help advance the Gates Foundation’s global health work. When they first began to meet, Gates said he was aware of Epstein’s “bad reputation stemming from his criminal conviction,” but continued to see Epstein.

“I was aware that he had a criminal conviction,” Gates said. “I knew that it was of a sexual nature, but, no, I don’t think I knew, dug into the specifics, although I probably should have.” 

Gates said he only became aware of the full extent of Epstein’s crimes in 2018 after the Miami Herald’s in-depth reporting on Epstein’s lenient deal with federal prosecutors.

Gates said he thought the other high-profile individuals with whom Epstein socialized helped create an “image of legitimacy,” acknowledging that his own relationship with Epstein likely bolstered that image.

“I was so focused on the possibility of raising funds for global health that I allowed that goal to override my better judgment,” Gates said. “If the time I spent with Epstein lent him credibility, I am deeply sorry. I’ve learned a significant lesson and am now far more careful about who I engage with, even in a limited capacity.” 

Describing Epstein as a “dilettante” with a surface-level knowledge of science and academics, Gates said that Epstein suggested he “provided advice to lots of billionaires” who might be able to advance philanthropic causes.

“He talked about Wall Street billionaires, he talked about Middle East billionaires. He made it sound very extensive … maybe for me to have a good impression of him,” Gates said.

While Gates insisted that his meetings with Epstein “weren’t social,” he recounted that some of those dinners involved “wide ranging discussion” with academics and bankers, including one dinner that included entertainment from magician David Blaine. Gates also said that Epstein repeatedly invited him to his private island, as well as an erotic show in Paris — invites that Gates said he refused.

According to Gates, his science adviser claimed they could likely go backstage to meet some of the performers that Epstein had dated, but Gates said he did not want to be spotted at an erotic show with Epstein.

“It wasn’t consistent with the relationship I had with Epstein,” Gates said. “I guess not only is my appearing at an erotic event a risk to my reputation, it would be compounded by appearing with somebody who, although I didn’t know the full extent of it, had been convicted of a sexually related crime.”

After occasionally meeting with Epstein for about three years, Gates said he began to express concerns that Epstein was “stringing” him along with his claims that he could deliver “meaningful philanthropic support.” According to Gates, Epstein set up a series of meetings in 2014 with high-profile individuals including hotel billionaire Thomas Pritzker, media billionaire Mort Zuckerman, and private equity investor Leon Black to demonstrate his connections to purportedly help Gates’ philanthropy work, though Gates said the meetings were a “dead end.”

“At that point, I concluded Epstein would never deliver on his promises. I told him we would go no further and stopped communicating or meeting with him,” Gates told the panel. 

After Gates tried to cut ties with Epstein in 2014, he said the disgraced financier attempted to force his way back into his life, including by leveraging his knowledge of Gates’ extramarital affairs.

While Gates said he never disclosed the affairs to Epstein, he speculated that Epstein learned about the indiscretions through his relationship with Gates’ science adviser Boris Nikolic. Gates said that Nikolic was aware of the affairs because of their close relationship, including at least one instance when he used meeting with Nikolic as an alibi to rendezvous with one of the women.

“One time it was a scheduling thing, when we were in London, where I said to him I was going to disappear and wanted him to show that I was meeting with him at that time,” Gates said.

When Nikolic began the process of leaving the Gates Foundation, he engaged Epstein to help him negotiate the terms of his departure, Gates said. Epstein traveled to Seattle at one point to assist in Nikolic’s negotiation, Gates said, and Nikolic eventually began to make “veiled” threats via email.

“It’s hard to characterize the Epstein stuff because there was never a direct threat of any kind. There was always this veiled language like ‘we should remain friends,’ you know, which made me wonder what Dr. Nikolic had shared with him,” Gates said.

Asked about two draft emails released by the Department of Justice seemingly written by Epstein on behalf of Nikolic, Gates said the notes — which vaguely referenced the affairs and suggested that Gates has contracted a sexually transmitted disease — appeared to be part of a plot to attempt to “blackmail” him.

While Gates acknowledged at least three affairs, he explicitly denied contracting a sexually transmitted disease from the affairs, suggesting Epstein mixed falsehoods with known compromising information to use as leverage.

“If those emails that contained some truth and some false things were ever sent, then we could say there was an attempt at blackmail that never happened,” Gates said.

After he severed his relationship with Epstein, Gates claimed that the disgraced financier attempted to force his way back into his orbit, including by seeking reimbursement for money he claimed to have paid a woman with whom Gates had an affair. He told lawmakers that Epstein had nothing to do with the relationship and said he was unaware of any money that Epstein may have paid the woman, telling lawmakers that he believed the requests for payment were a “tactic [for Epstein] to reengage” him.

“I’d never asked him to do anything with respect to the person we’re discussing, so I was rather surprised. That was the first time I knew explicitly that he’d become aware of that affair,” Gates told lawmakers.

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The Senate approved it Monday with similarly overwhelming bipartisan support.  It now heads to President Trump’s desk for his signature.

The main issue this bill tries to address is that the U.S. does not have enough houses to keep up with demand. Realtor.com estimated that last year the U.S. was short by more than 4 million housing units.

Mortgage rates have also risen over the past several years, and that boosts the monthly cost of ownership. Rates had been falling earlier this year, but the war in Iran raised the cost of borrowing, and the nationwide average is now about 6.5%. Families also have less purchasing power, as inflation has outstripped wages.

Rather than making a single change, the bill is a hodgepodge of provisions designed to either encourage housing construction or make it easier for home seekers to buy. The flashiest part of the package is a ban that prevents corporate investors from buying up more single-family homes to rent out. If one of those groups already owns at least 350 houses, it won’t be able to buy others.

This provision was one of the most contested as the bill worked its way through the legislative process. Some politicians endorsed it as a move to stop corporate landlords from being able to outbid families and buy up large chunks of local housing markets with cash offers.

Another is aimed at making manufactured homes more affordable by getting rid of the rule that those houses must have a permanent chassis, or a steel frame that makes them movable. Manufactured homes are often installed onto permanent foundations, and housing policy experts say that removing the chassis requirement could cut $5,000 to $10,000 off construction costs and allow for designs that could more easily incorporate a second story or basement.

“Housing affordability has become a priority for Congress” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a co-sponsor of the bill, told in an interview with NPR.

“Every time every member of Congress goes back home they hear how urgent it is to bring down home prices. And that’s what the bill does,” she said.

Sen. Warren said, “It has just been more than 30 years since the federal government has done anything but sit by and say, ‘Damn, the price of housing sure has gone up.’ Finally, we are actually moving.”

The bill also encourages local governments to speed up the homebuilding process by giving more federal dollars to places that build more housing. “If you don’t build more housing, you should lose those incentives. And they should go to the places where you’re building more housing,” said the bill’s co-sponsor, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on the Senate floor Monday ahead of the chamber’s vote.

While the legislation doesn’t provide new federal dollars for homebuilding, it streamlines some of the regulations homebuilders must follow to get existing federal financing.

For example, it allows builders to skip the environmental review when a housing project is going up between two buildings that have already gone through the process.

A different provision creates a grant program for communities to develop “pattern books” of preapproved housing designs, so builders won’t need as many approvals to get up to code.

But nationally, these investors make up only about 3% of the single-family rental market. And some experts warn the ban could actually limit the supply of available homes, because investors often buy and fix up homes that would otherwise fall out of the market.

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Host President Emmanuel Macron of France said he’ll seek to persuade Trump to continue supporting Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to help reach a peace agreement. As the U.S. under Trump has cut back aid to Ukraine, France and its European allies are now the biggest providers of military and financial support to Kyiv.

Trump said Tuesday he’ll be meeting one-on-one with Zelenskyy.

“The whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said. “So, yeah, I’m going to do whatever I can.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined G7 leaders for a morning working session but talks wrapped quickly, as leaders gathered for just 75 minutes, according to the French G7 presidency.

The Ukraine talks came on the heels of Trump’s announcement of an agreement to end the 3 and half month-old U.S. war against Iran. Trump said he wants to focus on Ukraine now, saying Iran will soon be “back in the rearview mirror.” He downplayed the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the U.S. but lamented the death toll.

Meanwhile, the U.K. announced a new set of sanctions targeting the ” shadow fleet ” Russia uses to ship oil and gas, and the finance networks used by Moscow to evade Western sanctions. The ships targeted include several vessels recently purchased by Russia to transport liquefied natural gas from its sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project.

Last weekend, U.K. troops seized a Russian shadow fleet vessel in the English Channel for the first time.

Hours before the summit began, Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s biggest cities in a barrage that killed 11 people and set fire to a religious landmark.

The attacks on Ukraine’s biggest cities came after Zelenskyy and Putin spoke separately by phone with Trump on Sunday, the U.S. leader’s 80th birthday. The exchange suggests Washington hasn’t given up on its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting that followed Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in 2022.

Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights the Russian invasion.

Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others are wary of it joining while the war continues.

G7 leaders also convened a working lunch to discuss the situation in the Middle East, with conversation expected to focus on the path ahead after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement.

The G7 comprises France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Other guest nations at this summit, including Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea, were invited to participate in some discussions.

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The new projection comes from the Bipartisan Policy Center, which used the latest data on U.S. cash flow to predict when the nation will again risk defaulting on its billions of dollars in loans, after Republicans acted last summer to raise the limit by $5 trillion through their One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Once the debt limit is reached, the Treasury Department begins what it calls “extraordinary measures” to tap cash reserves and use accounting maneuvers that keep the U.S. from breaching the ceiling. Those cash conservation tactics are likely to buy another six to nine months, the nonpartisan think tank predicts.

Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper predicted earlier this year that federal debt held by the public will rise from more than 100 percent of GDP this year to 120 percent in a decade, far exceeding the previous high of 106 percent of GDP in 1946. At the same time, new polling shows that more U.S. adults now view the deficit as a bigger problem than they did a year ago, as the United States is on track to spend $2 trillion more than it takes in during the current fiscal year.

The next Congress and President will need to enact a new law to further raise or waive the borrowing cap, in order to stave off an unprecedented U.S. debt default many economists predict would depress the global economy.

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“It’s not just the Knicks, it’s the Knicks-plus, what a year,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul at a press conference Thursday, where she encouraged tourists to visit the city despite the crush of high-profile events. “We can handle this, we got this, this is what we do best.”

The Knicks will host the Spurs at Madison Square Garden on June 8 and 10, and, if needed, will play here again on June 16. The first of eight matches at New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. will be on June 13, when Brazil faces Morocco.

On Thursday, Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani laid out a complicated matrix of steps, many implemented by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, designed to help handle up to a hundred thousand extra mass transit riders on game days. “We [normally] handle 6 million riders a day, so this is something within our control,” Hochul said.

“You’ll see more of a police presence, but know that behind the scenes our cyber-analysts and experts are focused on this with every fiber of their being,” Hochul said, noting that crime on NYC’s subway system is at a 16-year low.

“We know how to put on big events,” Mamdani said, though he acknowledged increased road congestion on game days is inevitable. “I want to encourage New Yorkers traveling into Midtown [Manhattan] to park their cars at home. Ride a bike, take the subway, or walk.”

The list of game- and match-day changes includes expanded bus and subway service, as well as lane closures aimed at creating travel corridors that allow buses and emergency vehicles to run more smoothly. There will also be bans on construction and deliveries in some areas of the city to keep traffic flowing.

“This is a moment we’ve been preparing for, we’ve been hoping for and we feel fully prepared for,” Mamdani said.

“We are prepared for everything from high heat to flash floods to increased traffic,” the Mayor added.

The World Cup championship match will be played at the New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19.

At the press conference, state and local officials also detailed security arrangements designed to reduce the risk of crime and terrorism.

Officials say they’ll be ready if there’s an NBA Finals game in Manhattan on June 16, the same day of the World Cup match between France and Senegal at the New Jersey stadium.

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As embarked on the visit, Trump was met with a ceremony that featured an honor guard, as well as a crowd of children waving Chinese and American flags.

“The relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before,” Trump said, making his opening remarks in the Great Hall of the People. During his banquet toast, Trump also invited Xi to the U.S. for a September visit.

President Xi said his country was committed to building a “relationship of strategic stability” with the U.S.

At the summit, Xi placed Taiwan, a key point of friction between the U.S. and China, at the center, calling it “the most important issue” between the two countries.

Taiwan is a self-governing island that China claims as its own territory. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to unify Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.

The U.S. relationship with Taiwan has long been viewed with hostility in Beijing. Washington continues to sell arms to Taiwan, but has also long adopted a policy of strategic ambiguity over whether it would militarily come to Taiwan’s defense.

Xi warned the U.S. “must exercise extra caution in handling the Taiwan question.”

“If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability,” Xi told Trump. “Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.”

“‘Taiwan independence’ and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water,” Xi said, adding that “safeguarding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the biggest common denominator between China and the U.S.”

The White House readout called the meeting “good” and did not mention Taiwan and remained vague on any potential deal making.

“The two sides discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation between our two countries, including expanding market access for American businesses into China and increasing Chinese investment into our industries,” a White House statement said.

Fentanyl and Chinese purchases of agricultural products were also discussed, according to the White House.

Trump and Xi last met last October on the sidelines of an APEC summit in South Korea, ending a long-standing trade war. Since then, the U.S. and China have been engaged in what analysts call a trade truce.

Trump and Xi’s meeting in the Great Hall of the People was followed by a visit to Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, a place once frequented by Chinese emperors, who prayed for good harvests.

The visit, which includes a state banquet, a tour to the compound that houses the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing and a working lunch between the two leaders, is scheduled to conclude on Friday.

Trump and Xi, according to Chinese state media, also talked about the Middle East and the war in Ukraine.

“Both the United States and China want to see de-escalation of the conflict and the fallout of the U.S. war against Iran,” said Ali Wyne, senior researcher at the International Crisis Group.

Strait of Hormuz “must remain open”

The White House also said in its statement that Xi and Trump had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway through which 20% of the world’s gas moves, must remain open.

Accompanying the U.S. delegation in Beijing are a dozen top U.S. executives, including SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook and NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang.

According to Chinese state media, Xi told the business leaders that U.S. companies were contributing to China’s reforms and opening up. “The door to China for U.S. business would only get wider,” Xi said.

“They look forward to trade and doing business, and it’s going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf,” Trump said.

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Trump and Xi had a “good meeting,” according to White House official, but the official readout has no mention of Taiwan — which Xi earlier warned of a “conflict” if the issue was handled improperly.

“The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy. President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future. Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”

President Trump’s trip came at a time when the US war with Iran loomed and was leading to economic consequences for Americans at home.

However, President Xi did say that if the issue is handled “properly,” “bilateral relations can remain generally stable.”

After a dramatic welcoming ceremony, Trump sat down with Xi on the first day of a multi-day summit, during which Trump said he’d seek to deepen diplomatic and economic ties between the world’s two largest economic powers.

Iran was also discussed between the leaders, with both sides agreeing that the Strait of Hormuz should remain open. This is a position China has already held.

The meeting also covered investments, economic cooperation, fentanyl and increasing Chinese purchases of American farm products.

The bilateral meeting between the two leaders in the Great Hall of the People lasted more than 2 hours according to pool reporters traveling with the president.

Ahead of the meeting, after Trump and a slate of other U.S. officials had gathered around the negotiating table, Trump called Xi a “great leader” and touted their relationship.

“Such respect for China, the job you’ve done. You’re a great leader. I say it to everybody. You’re a great leader,” Trump said. “Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true. I always say the truth.”

“We’ve had a fantastic relationship. We’ve gotten along,” Trump said. “When there were difficulties, we worked it out. I would call you, and you would call me, and whenever we had a problem — people don’t know — whenever we had a problem, we worked it out very quickly, and we’re going to have a fantastic future together.”

In his opening remarks, Xi told Trump that China and the U.S. “both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation.”

“We should be partners, not rivals, “he continued. “We should help each other succeed and prosper together and find the right way for major countries to get along well with each other in the new era.”

According to a bulletin from Xinhua, Xi emphasized that the issue of Taiwan is “the most important issue in China-U.S. relations,” saying if they are “if handled improperly, the two countries will clash or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-U.S. relationship into a very dangerous situation.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News ahead of the visit  that the U.S. will urge China to take a more assertive role in resolving the U.S.’s war with Iran during Trump’s meeting with Xi.

“It’s in their interest to resolve this. We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they’re doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf,” Rubio said during an interview taped on Air Force One Tuesday while Rubio and Trump were on their way to Beijing.

“We’ve made clear to them, you know, that any support for Iran would obviously be detrimental for our relationship. That obviously is going to come up in this conversation,” Rubio said.

Trump was asked ahead of the state dinner,  whether the pair would discuss diplomatic ways to end the war with Iran, which is in its third month. Trump said the U.S. had Iran “very much under control,” adding that it would be among the topics discussed.

“We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated, one way or the other. We win,” Trump said. “We’re going to be talking about; we’re going to be talking with President Xi.”

The last time Xi visited the White House was in September 2015 when former President Obama hosted him for a State Visit. The visit will be one of four meetings that the leaders wanted to have this year as part of their agreement last fall that put a pause on the tit-for-tat tariff war last year.

Trump said on social media on Tuesday that he planned to ask Xi to “open up” the Chinese economy. The U.S. delegation includes Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. CEOs Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Tim Cook of Apple and Jensen Huang of NVIDIA as well as the president’s son Eric Trump and daughter-in-law Lara Trump were also present.

Trump said the business leaders joined him to “pay respects” to Xi.

“We asked the top 30 in the world. Every single one of them said ‘yes,’ and I didn’t want the second or the third in the company. I wanted only the top. And they’re here today to pay respects to you and to China, and they look forward to trade and doing business, and it’s going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf,” Trump said.

The White House said one of Trump’s goals going into the summit with Xi is to secure purchasing agreements with China in the aerospace, agriculture and energy sectors and the CEOs traveled with the president to help push for that.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, said that the scheduled diplomatic meetings were expected to play “an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance for China-U.S. relations.”

“During the visit, the two heads of state will have an in-depth exchange of views on major issues concerning China-U.S. relations and world peace and development,” Guo added, according to a transcript published by the ministry. “China stands ready to work with the U.S. to expand cooperation and manage differences in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit, and provide more stability and certainty for a transforming and volatile world.”

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The White House earlier said trade, oil and Iran were among the topics discussed during a high-stakes meeting that lasted nearly two hours.Soon after talks began, Beijing released comments by Xi, repeating warnings of potential “conflict” with the US over Taiwan

The self-governed island claimed by Beijing is a major source of US-China tension, alongside tariffs, competition over tech and the Iran war

But Beijing also gave Trump a grand welcome – in Chinese diplomacy, that is not mere flattery, but carries real weight, writes our China correspondent

The delegation features several business leaders and billionaires, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Nvidia head Jensen Huang.

Xi heralded the US-China relationship as the world’s “most important”, representing a collective population of 1.7 billion people. The Chinese president also said that “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and “Make America great again” can go hand in hand.

In response, Trump called his visit a “great honour” and invited Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to visit the White House in September.

The banquet followed a high-stakes meeting between Trump and Xi, which lasted for about two hours. They later toured the Temple of Heaven.

On the agenda of today’s talks was the future of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.

The self-governed island is a major source of tension between Beijing and Washington, with China’s foreign ministry warning of “clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy” if the situation isn’t handled “properly”.

Both sides pointed to a continuity of the trade truce struck last October, under which Washington paused steep tariff hikes while Beijing eased restrictions on rare earth exports.

The White House says both leaders agreed to establish a new “Board of Trade” – a mechanism that could ease future trade ties, though US officials have cautioned it is far from operational.

Beijing also signaled a willingness to buy American agricultural goods and energy products, but no specifics were announced.

Xi said recent trade talks in South Korea had made “progress,” while warning that Taiwan was “the most important issue in China-US relations” – one that could push the two countries towards “a highly perilous situation”.

The US called the meeting “highly productive” while Trump called it “the biggest summit ever” and promised “a fantastic future together.”

There were multiple roadblocks in Beijing today, but that didn’t stop people waiting and scrambling for a glimpse of Donald Trump’s motorcade as it travelled across the city.

Donald Trump is in Beijing to meet with China’s leader Xi Jinping, in his first visit to the country since 2017.

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