BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday morning, kickstarting a high-stakes summit that is expected to cover trade, tariffs, Taiwan and Iran, and runs through Friday.

The relationship between the two countries is going to be "better than ever before," Trump told Xi in his opening remarks, according to official broadcast footage. Trump, who also visited China in 2017 in his first term, said the two leaders have known each other personally for longer than any other U.S. or Chinese president.