Trump to greet Xi at airport as Chinese leader arrives for state visit

The first state visit by the leader of China in more than a decade takes place next week when President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for high-stakes talks — and a little schmoozing — at the White House with President Donald Trump.

When Xi's plan lands at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Wednesday, Trump will be there to welcome Xi for the state visit, senior administration officials told reporters. That's unusual -- Trump typically meets foreign leaders at the White House.

The heart of the visit comes Thursday when Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcome Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at an arrival ceremony held indoors on the State Floor of the White House. Trump and Xi will also participate in a review of troops in the Rose Garden before they retreat behind closed doors for their talks.

The first lady and Peng Liyuan will hold a separate engagement while their spouses get down to business. Details were not released during a call the officials held Friday to brief reporters on Xi's visit.

Xi and his wife will also be the guests of honor Thursday as Trump and the first lady host the Chinese delegation for a state dinner in the East Room. Trump described the dinner as an event everyone wants to attend. Both leaders will deliver remarks.

“Thousands of people would love to be at that dinner,” Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office. He appeared to lament that the 1,000-person ballroom he is adding onto the White House will not be available for the soiree because it is still under construction. “This is a very tough ticket for me.”

“I've told a lot of very good friends of mine, you just can't come,'" Trump said.

 

White House shares some names on the state dinner guest list

But some of the Republican president's tech industry friends have been invited.

Among the executives scheduled to attend the state dinner are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai of Google and Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies, the White House said.

Also on the guest list are Nvidia's Jensen Huang, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, and Tim Cook, who recently stepped down as the CEO of Apple.

Next Friday, Xi and Peng Liyuan are scheduled to return to the White House for a private tea with the Trumps, who will then take them on a tour of the National Archives, the home of some of the United States' most important founding documents as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.

Xi will head for Joint Base Andrews after the tour.

 

Tariffs, artificial intelligence, rare earths on the agenda

As for other substantive parts of the visit, US officials said Washington and Beijing may be ready to ease some tariffs on some nonstrategic goods.

Discussing the visit during a call with reporters, senior US officials said such a move might affect a narrow band of goods that would advantage both sides. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, did not elaborate.

But they said they did not expect the United States would be ready to ease export controls to allow for a greater flow of rare earth minerals, critical components in a wide range of products, into the global market.

The officials said China maintaining an acceptable flow of such minerals would be discussed, but there was unlikely to be an exchange involving reduced US export controls.

Separately, Treasury Secretary Bessent will meet over the weekend in New York with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss a range of economic issues, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly.

Artificial intelligence will be a focus of the talks, the person said.

Also on the agenda will be China's stockpiles of rare earth minerals, essential to everything from smartphones to fighter jets. Beijing has used its near-monopoly on the minerals to bring the United States to the negotiating table in a trade war started by Trump's tariffs and other sanctions on China. The talks might continue at the working level into Monday, the person said.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will join Bessent on Sunday for the meeting with He, Greer's office announced Friday evening.

Trump visited China in May, as well as in his first term, for talks with Xi, who rolled out the red carpet for his American counterpart.

Xi was last in the United States for a state visit in September 2015 during the administration of Democrat Barack Obama.