Xi Jinping Makes State Visit to Washington as U.S.-China Talks Focus on Tariffs, AI and Security

President Donald Trump is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington this week for a state visit that puts the world’s two biggest economies face to face at a tense moment over trade, artificial intelligence and security. The White House, not just Chinese state media, has independently confirmed the visit, which runs from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25.

Xi arrived in Washington on the evening of Sept. 23, landing at Joint Base Andrews, where Trump and first lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and Peng Liyuan, according to the White House, which also posted video of the arrival. The White House said a formal state arrival ceremony was scheduled for Thursday on the South Lawn, State Floor and Rose Garden, followed by remarks and an evening state dinner in the East Room.

The meeting carries unusual weight beyond the ceremonial setting. White House materials and major news coverage have pointed to an agenda centered on tariffs and broader trade friction, AI safety, Taiwan and other security issues, and concerns over critical minerals and rare-earth supplies. The summit comes as Washington and Beijing are trying to manage strategic rivalry without letting disputes over commerce and the Indo-Pacific spin further.

The most immediate substantive development came from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said Sept. 23 that U.S. and Chinese officials had agreed to extend the Busan trade truce until Jan. 10, 2027. The truce had previously been due to expire on Nov. 10. Reuters and other outlets reported Bessent’s comments, including his statement on Fox News: “That is going to be extended until January 10 to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front.”

That extension, as described by Bessent and other U.S. officials, would preserve a fragile pause in further tariff escalation reached on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan on Oct. 30, 2025. The Busan understanding also included arrangements tied to critical minerals and rare earths, as well as renewed Chinese purchases of some U.S. agricultural goods. The White House visit now gives Trump and Xi a chance to test whether that stopgap can become something more durable.

Bessent also said earlier talks had produced agreement to establish a formal U.S.-China AI safety dialogue. Reuters reported that, under the U.S. account, the framework would include a proposed “incident line” for serious AI incidents and a follow-up senior meeting in Shenzhen in roughly two months. Chinese officials had not publicly matched every detail at the same time, so the AI arrangements remain, at this stage, the U.S. side’s public description rather than a fully documented bilateral accord.

For both governments, that matters because AI has moved from a technology competition to a risk-management issue as well. At the same time, Taiwan remains one of the most sensitive fault lines in the relationship, and supply chains for rare earths and other critical inputs have become a core economic and national security concern for Washington.

Trump struck an upbeat tone after greeting Xi. “I thought it was a great little meeting, a great greeting, and I think they appreciate it,” he told reporters, according to AFP. Xi, in written arrival remarks published by Chinese government media, said, “China and the United States should be partners, not rivals.”

The visit is Xi’s first White House state visit in more than a decade; his last formal White House visit was in 2015. It also follows Trump’s trip to Beijing in May 2026, making Xi’s Washington stop a reciprocal visit in a year that has already seen unusually active U.S.-China diplomacy. For now, the immediate test is whether the pageantry of a state visit can produce practical progress on the tariffs, technology safeguards and security disputes that now define the relationship.