Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, arrived in the United States on Wednesday evening for a three-day state visit, receiving an unusually elaborate personal welcome from U.S. President Donald Trump at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted the Chinese leaders on the tarmac, marking the first time in 11 years that a sitting U.S. president has personally welcomed a foreign leader at the military base. The last such occasion was in 2015, when then-President Barack Obama received Pope Francis. The ceremony featured a roughly 100-foot red carpet, a 21-person honor guard, the playing of both nations’ anthems, a 21-gun salute, military contingents from multiple service branches, and a flyover by U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers.
Xi’s visit — his first to Washington in more than a decade and his first trip to the United States in nearly three years — comes after he hosted Trump in Beijing in May. It is their third in-person meeting since Trump began his second term, following earlier talks on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Busan, South Korea, in late 2025.
In a written statement released upon arrival and carried by China’s Xinhua news agency, Xi said China and the United States “should be partners, not rivals.” He noted that the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand,” adding that the two countries’ peoples have long-standing friendly exchanges and deeply intertwined interests. Xi called for a stable relationship defined by cooperation as the mainstay.
As the leaders met at the airport, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their existing trade truce until January 10. The arrangement, which had been set to expire on November 10, involves scaled-back tariffs and a pause on new trade restrictions. It originated from talks in Busan last year and had already been extended once earlier.
The summit agenda is expected to cover a wide range of contentious issues, including trade and tariffs, rare-earth minerals and critical supply chains, artificial intelligence governance and technology export controls, Taiwan, the conflict involving Iran and the wider Middle East, and the war in Ukraine. Expectations for major breakthroughs remain modest, with both sides emphasizing the value of stable management of differences amid deep strategic rivalry.
Thursday’s schedule includes a formal White House arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, a military review in the Rose Garden, bilateral talks, and a black-tie state dinner in the East Room that is expected to include prominent U.S. technology executives. On Friday, the two couples are scheduled for a private tea at the White House before a joint visit to the National Archives. Xi and Peng are due to depart later that day.
The high-profile reception underscores the importance both leaders attach to keeping bilateral channels open even as underlying tensions persist over economic competition, technology, security and regional flashpoints.
