There's a chance it was China. Today, the U.S. has an open-trade policy with China, which means goods are traded freely between the two countries, but it wasn't always this way. On February 21, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon arrived in China for an official trip. He was the first U.S. president to visit the People's Republic of China since it was established in 1949. This was an important event because the U.S. was seeking to improve relations with a Communist country during the Cold War.