US President Donald Trump will host Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week in Washington, with AI, trade and Taiwan expected to be on the agenda for the leaders of the global superpowers.
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.
The three-day trip marks Xi’s first state visit to the US since 2015 and his third meeting with Trump in the past year.
Adding to the high-stakes state visit, a US-China trade agreement reached last year is set to expire in November.
Experts said 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 expected to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art with US First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday.
David Sacks, a fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, described the planned extravagant welcome by Trump as “really unprecedented”.
“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 said, “much less an adversary like China.
“It’s quite, quite stunning,” he continued.
Trump is expected to address several issues as he meets Xi, particularly on tariffs and trade.
The US president has long criticised his country’s trade deficit with China, which stands at more than $91bn (£68.2bn), according to the latest US Census Bureau data.
Also, Chinese rare earth exports to the US are down despite the agreement last October.
US and Chinese officials held trade talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, but failed to make meaningful progress ahead of the Xi visit, multiple sources told the BBC.
The talks focused on finding areas of agreement around non-tariff trade issues and agricultural exports, according to sources familiar with White House thinking.
US negotiators were expected to continue talks with Chinese counterparts in Washington on Wednesday after Xi’s arrival.
AFP via Getty ImagesHuge data centres rise at ‘China speed’ to power its AI ambitions
Another likely talking point between Trump and Xi is artificial intelligence, a topic that David Firestein from the Bush China Foundation said 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.”
Trump’s former White House adviser Steve Bannon and some Republicans in Congress have also warned about dangers posed by AI.
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 said.
Firestein told the BBC he expects Trump and Xi to discuss ways for AI collaboration.
On Sunday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, and said the two had “very successful” talks on trade and AI.
Several AI and tech industry titans will attend a White House state dinner on Thursday, according to US officials.
Open AI’s CEO Sam Altman, Jensen Huang, whose company Nvidia makes chips that power AI, and X boss Elon Musk are some of the dinner attendees.
Bloomberg via Getty ImagesExperts who spoke to the BBC said any major breakthroughs on AI or other issues are unlikely to occur during the Trump-Xi meetings this week.
Then there is Taiwan, which remains a diplomatic thorn.
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 use of force.
Firestein said 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 also facing economic headwinds at home, and is expected to use this visit to discuss deepening US-China trade.
However, that presents a potential political problem for Trump. Some members of his cabinet and his supporters view China with deep suspicion.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a letter to Ford Motor Company in September, urging the company to cut ties with China due to national security concerns 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, said.
“He believes that the more he and President Xi meet, the less confrontational that relationship will be,” Orlins continued, “and he is right.”
With additional reporting by Daniel Bush, Washington correspondent
