Trump and Xi Jinping held talks at the White House

President of the United States of America Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House.

During the negotiations, the heads of state exchanged views on important international and regional issues. Topics of discussion included the Middle East, the Ukrainian crisis and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Xi noted that cooperation between Beijing and Washington cannot solve all the problems in the world, but “many of them are difficult to solve without such cooperation.” He added that he looks forward to continuously maintaining constructive relations that ensure strategic stability between Beijing and Washington.

Later, the Chinese President positively assessed the negotiations, calling the dialogue with his American counterpart sincere and deep. According to him, they managed to reach many consensuses, including on a new joint trade agreement, as well as give new strategic guidelines to bilateral relations.

Meeting against the backdrop of “hellish sanctions”

Despite the silence of Washington and Beijing on the topic of energy, the key topic of the negotiations was probably the issue of hydrocarbon supplies to China. A few days before Xi’s visit, Trump signed a “hell of a sanctions” law allowing him to impose 100 percent tariffs on states buying oil from Russia.

Since 2022, China will purchase 50 percent of Russian oil exports, India - 37 percent. Kpler analysts believe it will be extremely difficult to replace the 3.5 million barrels per day of Russian offshore supply, in addition to the roughly 600,000 barrels China imports via pipeline. If new restrictions are introduced, China will ignore them, giving priority to energy security.

Departure from protocol

The head of China visited the United States for the first time in 11 years. Beijing and Washington argued for weeks over the status of the visit. China insisted that the trip be recognized as a state visit, and as a result, the American side agreed to give it the highest diplomatic status.

The US leader personally met the Chinese leader at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. During the playing of the American anthem, B-1 strategic bombers flew over the leaders of the two states. At that moment, Trump ducked down, grimaced his face and turned his head after the planes. The head of China followed the bombers with his eyes, but almost did not react to the loud sound.

The meeting on the tarmac represents a significant breach of protocol that has been followed for the past six decades. The last time a US president personally greeted a foreign leader was on the runway at Andrews Air Force Base in 1962, when John F. Kennedy received British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. At the same time, the practice of meetings directly on the airfield has already been used by Donald Trump before: in August 2025, he personally greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage.

After escorting his guest to the White House, Trump made the Chinese leader laugh with a joke about Joe Biden. He showed the Chinese leader the “Presidential Walk of Fame,” which contains portraits of all American heads of state. Instead of a portrait of Biden, a fountain pen with his signature was depicted. The joke was that, according to Trump, his predecessor was not always able to sign documents on his own. The Chinese leader appreciated the joke and laughed politely.