Xi Jinping to Make State Visit to White House Next Week
President Trump will greet Chinese leader Xi Jinping upon his arrival for a state visit, the first in more than a decade, which will include high-stakes talks and a state dinner.
President Xi Jinping of China will arrive in Washington next week for a state visit, marking the first time a Chinese leader has made such a trip to the United States in over a decade. President Donald Trump is scheduled to greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington upon his arrival on Wednesday, a departure from Trump's usual practice of meeting foreign leaders at the White House.
The centerpiece of the visit will be on Thursday, when Trump and first lady Melania Trump host Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for an arrival ceremony at the White House. The two leaders will also participate in a troop review in the Rose Garden before commencing their private discussions. Meanwhile, the first ladies will engage in a separate event.
That evening, Xi and Peng Liyuan will be honored at a state dinner hosted by the Trumps in the East Room. Trump described the event as highly sought-after, noting that a planned 1,000-person addition to the White House ballroom would not be ready in time to accommodate the demand.
Several prominent figures from the tech industry are expected to attend the state dinner, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, and former Apple CEO Tim Cook.
On Friday, the final day of the visit, Xi and Peng Liyuan are slated for a private tea with the Trumps. Following the tea, the Trumps will escort their guests on a tour of the National Archives, which holds significant founding documents of the United States.
Discussions during the visit are expected to touch upon economic and trade matters. Senior U.S. officials indicated that a potential easing of some tariffs on non-strategic goods could be on the table, a move that might benefit both nations. However, officials did not anticipate a reduction in U.S. export controls that would permit a larger flow of rare earth minerals, which are crucial for various products. China's stockpiles of these minerals, a point of leverage in previous trade disputes, are also expected to be a topic of discussion.
Prior to Xi's arrival, Treasury Secretary Bessent is scheduled to meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York over the weekend to discuss a range of economic issues. Artificial intelligence is also expected to be a focus of these preliminary talks. China's commerce ministry announced that He would lead a delegation to the U.S. for economic and trade consultations from Saturday to Wednesday.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will join Bessent for the meeting with He. Xi's last state visit to the U.S. was in September 2015, during the administration of President Barack Obama. Trump previously visited China for talks with Xi in May and during his first term.