Presidents normally greet foreign leaders at the White House. On Wednesday evening, Donald Trump drove out to Joint Base Andrews instead, with Melania Trump beside him, and stood on a 100ft (30m) red carpet to shake hands with Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan.
It was a lavish welcome to open Xi’s state visit. US service members lined both sides of the carpet. Two B-1 bombers, the supersonic aircraft that are a key part of the American combat arsenal and are known for a notoriously loud roar, passed overhead. The flags and national anthems of both countries were presented. Then the two couples went off to Washington.
The Guardian noted one discordant moment. As the anthem played and the jets went over, Trump visibly winced at the noise. Xi stayed impassive, and so did both wives. The moment was caught on a White House livestream and mocked widely online, but it was left out of the edited highlights that Trump’s aides released later.
Melania Trump explained the choice to Fox & Friends that morning. “He’s coming on our soil,” she said, “and we need to welcome them with the most respect.” The Guardian read the decision to meet Xi at his plane as a measure of how far Trump is willing to go to honor him, and as a return for the ceremony Trump received in China earlier this year.
A truce, extended
Business came first, though. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had met Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng earlier on Wednesday, announced that the two countries would extend the Busan agreement, a temporary trade truce between the world’s two largest economies. It will now run to January 10, two months beyond its original expiry.
The rest of the visit is thick with ceremony: a formal welcome on the South Lawn of the White House, private tea with the Trumps and a tour of the National Archives. On Thursday the White House has invited tech executives from OpenAI, Apple, xAI, Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta, among others, to a state dinner for Xi. The trade war, and the race to build the most powerful artificial intelligence, are among the thorny matters on the table.
Trump framed the AI contest bluntly on Truth Social last week: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so.”
Xi’s schedule also leaves a gap in New York. World leaders were gathering there for the UN General Assembly, which he will not address; he has attended once since becoming president in 2012. Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told Reuters that people will ask, “Where is the real center of decision-making?”
Sources
- A red carpet and military flyover – How Trump welcomed Xi
- Trump greets Xi Jinping on arrival in rare move as US-China trade truce extended
