Trump welcomes Xi Jinping for state visit to the United States
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U.S. President Donald Trump personally welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking the beginning of Xi Jinping's three-day visit to the United States.
Xi Jinping's Air China special plane landed at Joint Base Andrews (Joint Base Andrews) on the outskirts of Washington, the capital of the United States, at approximately 17:40 EDT (21:40 GMT; 05:40 Beijing time on Friday 24th) on Wednesday (September 23).
Trump and his wife Melania Trump welcomed Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan as they disembarked from the plane. At the scene, the US military honor guard played the national anthems of China and the United States and fired a salute. A B-1 bomber flies overhead.
This is Xi Jinping’s second state visit to the United States after 11 years. Trump personally welcomed Xi Jinping. Excluding the Roman Catholic Pope, it was the first time in more than 60 years that a U.S. president has welcomed the visit of a head of state from another country in this way.
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According to the itinerary announced by the US, Trump will hold a formal welcome ceremony for Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday (24th) morning. The two will hold talks immediately. Topics are expected to include artificial intelligence (AI) competition between China and the United States, the Taiwan issue, tariffs and the situation in Iran.
Trump will also host a banquet for Xi Jinping and his party, who will return to China after visiting the National Archives on Friday (25th).
Just as Xi Jinping and his delegation got off the plane, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States and China would extend the truce in their trade war until January next year.
In an interview with Fox News (Fox News) after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, Bessant said that the two sides had agreed to extend the so-called "Busan Agreement" and reduce the tariffs imposed on each other. The agreement was originally scheduled to expire on November 10.
He said the two sides also discussed whether the two countries could eventually reach a more substantive trade agreement.
"I don't know if we can get a bigger deal. I don't know if we're just going to continue the current deal," he said.
Will the pomp and circumstance overshadow the substance of the White House-Xi Trump meeting?
Sarah Smith, BBC North America Editor
Trump rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping — literally and figuratively. The White House has redecorated his visit, which will also include a grand state dinner.
This summit may be more about spectacle than substance.
Xi Jinping will ask Trump to further delay plans to sell billions of dollars worth of weapons to Taiwan.
Both sides want an extended truce in the trade war to avoid a return to extremely high trade tariffs. But China appears to have failed to fulfill its commitments to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural products and sell more rare earth minerals to the United States.
Of course, the topic most likely to dominate the discussion is artificial intelligence. Despite recent industry warnings about the potential risks of AI, both sides are unlikely to agree on new rules or safeguards to slow the technology's development.
President Trump has dismissed the concerns as a "hoax" as the two countries race to dominate the field.
But the two sides may agree to establish a mechanism to warn each other if the technology gets out of control.
