Donald Trump has welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House for talks on trade, artificial intelligence and security, as the two leaders seek to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Xi arrived in Washington DC for his first United States visit since 2023. The meeting comes after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the existing trade truce had been extended by two months.
Trump and Xi adopted a conciliatory tone during the reception, stressing the importance of communication and co-operation. Trump said decisions would be made on “security, technology, and super intelligence” – his preferred term for artificial intelligence.
“The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come,” the US president said.
In a written address released by China’s official news agency, Xi said the US and China should be “partners not rivals”. He described the year as crucial for bilateral relations and called for stable ties based on co-operation, moderate competition and differences that could be overcome.
Trade truce extended as Trump and Xi meet
Mr Bessent said the economic détente, which had been due to end on November 10, would now continue until January 10. He made the announcement after meeting Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Washington.
“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,” Mr Bessent told Fox News.
China did not immediately comment on the extension.
The two countries have exchanged steep tariffs since the US raised duties on Chinese goods in stages to as much as 145 per cent last April. China responded with tariffs of up to 125 per cent and restrictions on exports of certain materials.
Both sides subsequently agreed several times to suspend new tariffs for 90 days, before Trump and Xi reached a wider trade truce in Busan, South Korea, in October. The agreement’s expiry would also have led to an expansion of Chinese export controls on rare earths.
The leaders were due to hold bilateral talks following the White House reception, before attending a state dinner on Thursday evening. Expected guests include Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google and Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai and Apple chief executive Tim Cook.
Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, were greeted by Trump and First Lady Melania Trump after landing at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday evening. Children presented the couple with bouquets of flowers, while two B-1 bombers flew overhead.
The welcome ceremony included a 21-person guard of honour, a cannon salute and the US Air Force band playing both national anthems. Xi invited 100,000 US citizens to study in China, while two pandas are expected to be sent to a US zoo as a gesture of friendship.
Further discussions during Xi’s visit, which concludes on Friday, are expected to include global conflicts including 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. His last visit to the White House was in 2015, during Barack Obama’s presidency, although he met Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2017.
