When President Xi Jinping lands at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Wednesday, his counterpart, Donald Trump, plans to be there to greet him, senior US administration officials said.

That’s a rarity– Trump typically meets foreign leaders at the White House – but high-stakes talks are planned for the first state visit to the United States by Xi in more than a decade.

The heart of the visit comes on 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.

Peng and Melania Trump will hold a separate engagement while their spouses get down to business. Details were not released during a call that officials held on Friday to brief reporters on Xi's visit.

Xi and his wife will also be the guests of honor on 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 said on Friday. 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.”

Among the executives scheduled to attend the state dinner are Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Google's Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Dell Technologies' Michael Dell, Citigroup's Jane Fraser, and Tim Cook, who recently stepped down as chief executive of Apple.

On Friday, Xi and Peng 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.

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 be advantageous to both sides.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet this weekend in New York with Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss a range of economic issues, with artificial intelligence and China’s stockpiles of rare earth minerals set to be a focus, a person familiar with the talks said.

The talks might continue at the working level into Monday, the source said.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will join Bessent on Sunday for the meeting with He, Greer’s office.

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





Edited by Azam Khan