Trump to Greet Xi at Andrews as China State Visit Opens Wednesday; AI and Trade on the Table

President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday when Xi and Peng Liyuan land for a three-day state visit, senior administration officials told reporters. Trump usually receives foreign leaders at the White House. The visit is Xi’s first official trip to Washington in more than a decade and follows Trump’s May trip to Beijing, where he invited Xi to return the call. Closed-door talks, a Rose Garden troop review, and an East Room state dinner are set for Thursday. Friday brings tea at the White House and a tour of the National Archives before the Chinese party flies out of Andrews. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are already meeting Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York this weekend to tee up the economic file.

Thursday is the working day. Trump and first lady Melania Trump will welcome Xi and Peng at an indoor arrival ceremony on the State Floor, then Trump and Xi will review troops in the Rose Garden and go behind closed doors. Melania Trump and Peng have a separate engagement; the White House has not released details. That evening the Trumps host a state dinner in the East Room. Both leaders will speak. Trump said “thousands of people would love to be at that dinner” and that he has had to tell “a lot of very good friends of mine, ‘you just can’t come.’” The new ballroom is still under construction, so the meal stays in the East Room. Officials said invited guests include Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Michael Dell, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, and Tim Cook, who recently left the Apple CEO job. Politico separately reported Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon is attending. Some Chinese executives are expected in Xi’s delegation. Friday’s program is tea with the Trumps and a stop at the Archives, which holds the founding documents as the country marks its 250th anniversary.

Officials speaking under White House ground rules said artificial intelligence will be a focus of the talks. Washington and Beijing may ease tariffs on a narrow band of nonstrategic goods. They also expect a discussion of rare-earth mineral flows — China dominates the supply used in phones and fighter jets — but U.S. officials said they do not expect Washington to loosen export controls in a swap. Trump has said the United States is leading China in AI and intends to keep it that way. He announced Saturday an “AI Force” and a forthcoming AI czar and rejected a development slowdown. Altman has said the two leaders could earn a Nobel if they reached an AI deal; nothing was signed when the same executives traveled with Trump to Beijing in May. China’s commerce ministry said He Lifeng’s delegation is in the United States from Saturday through Wednesday for economic and trade consultations. A tariff truce between the two countries is scheduled to expire in November. Officials did not brief Taiwan, fentanyl precursors, or Iran as confirmed agenda items on Friday’s call. No joint communiqué has been published.