WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Xi Jinping’s upcoming trip to America remains on track, days after the US leader’s claims of Chinese election fraud threatened to upend the truce. 

“We anticipate that the trip is happening in September,” he told reporters before departing for a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Manila.

“They continue to send over their teams to prepare for it. I’ve heard nothing otherwise.”

President Donald Trump last week accused the Chinese government of interfering with US elections in 2020 by stealing 220 million voter files – claims American intelligence agencies have previously debunked.

When asked on the evening of July 19 if there would be consequences for Beijing’s alleged actions, he told reporters: “We’re going to see. We’ll be speaking to them.”

Trump made the allegations months ahead of a planned visit by the Chinese leader to the US, part of broader efforts to stabilise ties and maintain a trade truce struck in 2025.

That trip is the second of potentially four meetings between the two men in 2026 after Trump’s high-profile visit to Beijing in May.

Ahead of Xi’s trip, fresh tensions are emerging between the world’s largest economies around visas and artificia...