Trump welcomes Xi to White House for talks on AI, trade
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US President Donald Trump has welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on the second day of a high-stakes visit.
The Chinese leader arrived in Washington DC on Wednesday in his first trip to the United States since 2023, with trade tensions and artificial intelligence set to dominate the agenda.
The trip got off to an auspicious start as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a two-month extension to the trade truce between the two superpowers late on Wednesday.
At the White House, Trump and Xi struck a conciliatory tone, emphasising the need for greater communication and co-operation between the two countries that have world’s largest economies.
Xi invited 100,000 US citizens to study in China and the country is set to continue its panda diplomacy by sending two pandas to a US zoo as a signal of friendship.
Trump announced “decisions” would be made on key issues such as “security, technology, and super intelligence,” the US president’s preferred new term for artificial intelligence and a crucial arena of competition between the two countries.
“The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come,” Trump said.
According to a written address released by China’s official news agency Xinhua, Xi stated that the US and China should be partners not rivals.
He said it was a crucial year for relations between the two countries, adding that they should foster stable relations characterised by co-operation, moderate competition, surmountable differences and the prospect of peace.
The two leaders were set to hold bilateral talks after the reception at the White House before a state dinner on Thursday evening attended by US tech executives.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google and Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai and Apple chief executive Tim Cook are all expected, according to a senior government official.
Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan landed on Wednesday evening at Joint Base Andrews near Washington DC, where they were greeted by Trump and his wife Melania.
The US rolled out the red carpet to welcome the Chinese delegation, with children presenting bouquets of flowers to Xi and his wife while two B-1 bombers flew overhead.
The welcome ceremony also included a 21-person guard of honour, a battery salute from cannons and the US air force band playing both national anthems.
Further topics likely to be discussed during the visit, which concludes on Friday, include global conflicts such as the war in Iran and Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Xi last visited the US in 2023, when he travelled to California for the APEC economic summit and met Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.
This is his first trip to the White House since 2015, during Barack Obama’s presidency, although the Chinese president visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2017.
Trump invited Xi to the White House during his own visit to Beijing in mid-May.
Bessent told Fox News the two countries’ trade truce had been extended after he and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng held an unscheduled meeting in Washington DC.
“The economic détente between the two countries that was scheduled to end on November 10, that is going to be extended until January 10 to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front,” Bessent said.
China did not immediately comment on the announcement.
In April last year, the US increased import tariffs on Chinese goods in several stages to up to 145 per cent.
China responded with counter-tariffs of up to 125 per cent and export restrictions on certain materials.
Both sides then agreed to a 90-day suspension of new tariffs multiple times, before Trump and Xi reached a broader trade truce in Busan, South Korea, in October.
The expiry of the agreement would also have triggered an expansion of Chinese export controls on rare earths, which have affected companies in Europe since their introduction in April 2025.
DPA