White House rolling out red carpet for historic Xi Jinping visit

ByBrandon Drenon Reporting fromWashington DC. 23 September 2026, 06: 02 BST.

Key points

• Open AI's CEO Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, whose firm Nvidia makes chips that power AI, and X boss Elon Musk are some of the dinner attendees.
• Xi will be greeted personally by Trump at Andrews Air Force Base on the eve of a White House state dinner and a military flyover.
• David Sacks, a fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, described the planned extravagant welcome by Trump as "really unprecedented".
• Trump's former White House adviser Steve Bannon and some Republicans in Congress have additionally cautioned regarding dangers posed by AI.
• On Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, and remarked the two had "very successful" negotiations on trade and AI.

US President Donald Trump will host Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week in Washington, with AI, trade and Taiwan projected to be on the agenda for the leaders of the global superpowers.

For context, the three-day trip marks Xi's first state visit to the US since 2015 and his third session with Trump previously year.

Adding to the high-stakes state visit, a US-China trade agreement reached last year is due to expire in November.

For context, the trade truce – reached in October 2025 as Trump and Xi met in South Korea – saw Washington suspend steep tariff increases on Chinese goods while Beijing eased back from restricting rare earth exports critical for manufacturing.

Experts remarked they will be watching for some sort of announcement around an extension of this agreement during the forthcoming state visit.

Xi's trip to Washington, which ends on Friday, will have plenty of pomp and pageantry, and includes lavish dinners, private tours and performances.

He will be accompanied by First Lady Peng Liyuan who is projected to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art with US First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday.

From meeting Xi Jinping at Andrews Air Force Base to having a flyover for Xi as well, this is not something afforded to any US ally, Sacks remarked, much less an adversary like China. It's quite, quite stunning, he continued.

Trump is projected to address a number of problems as he meets Xi, particularly on tariffs and trade.

In practice, the US president has long criticised his country's trade deficit with China. It stands at more than $91bn (£68.2bn), according to the latest US Census Bureau data, external.

Additionally, Chinese rare earth exports to the US are down, external despite the agreement last October.

US and Chinese authorities held trade negotiations on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, but failed to create meaningful progress ahead of the Xi visit, multiple sources informed the BBC.

As sources indicate familiar with White House thinking, the discussions focused on finding areas of agreement around non-tariff trade matters and agricultural exports.

US negotiators were projected to continue negotiations with Chinese counterparts in Washington on Wednesday after Xi's arrival.

Massive data centres rise at 'China speed' to power its AI ambitions.

Another probable talking point between Trump and Xi is artificial intelligence, a topic that David Firestein from the Bush China Foundation stated has "climbed rapidly toward the top of the agenda" ahead of this visit.

China and the US are competing in what has been described as an AI arms race. But after a series of recent high-profile security incidents involving the emergent technology, there has been growing pressure on the Trump administration to regulate AI and slow its development.

Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X this week: "For the sake of all humanity, Trump and Xi must negotiate a treaty NOW to pause AI and ban superintelligence before it's too late."

In practice, the president, who views the technology as vital to the US economy and a battleground in a global struggle for power, has been reluctant.

He views defeating China in the AI race as a primary objective. "Whoever wins AI, wins, " Trump has remarked.

Firestein informed the BBC he expects Trump and Xi to discuss ways for AI collaboration.

Meanwhile, a number of AI and tech industry titans will attend a White House state dinner on Thursday, according to US office-holders.

Experts who spoke to the BBC remarked any major breakthroughs on AI or other matters are unlikely to occur during the Trump-Xi meetings this week. Then there is Taiwan, which remains a diplomatic thorn.

In practice, the US Congress has approved a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan that awaits Trump's signature. He has held off for now, viewing the move as a bargaining chip with China.

Beijing has long vowed to "reunify" with self-governing Taiwan and has not ruled out the employ of force.

Firestein remarked he expects Xi will be looking for Trump to either commit to extending the delay of the arms sale or somehow avoiding the sale altogether.

Xi – like Trump – is additionally facing economic headwinds at home, and is anticipated to employ this visit to discuss deepening US-China trade.

Nevertheless, that presents a potential political challenge for Trump. Some members of his cabinet and his supporters view China with deep suspicion.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a letter, external to Ford Motor Firm in September, urging the business to cut ties with China due to national security reservations and protection of American jobs.

Regardless of the clear hurdles that remain before any new US-China deals are inked, it is clear that Trump views personal contact with Xi as vital to the process.

"Trump has made a decision that no matter what, we need to not have a confrontational relationship with China, " Stephen Orlins, president at the National Committee on US-China Relations, remarked.

"He believes that the more he and President Xi meet, the less confrontational that relationship will be, " Orlins continued, "and he is right." With extra reporting by Daniel Bush, Washington correspondent.

Taken together, the developments around white House rolling out red carpet for historic Xi Jinping visit point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.