Xi arrives in US to personal Trump welcome

US President Donald Trump has treated Chinese President Xi Jinping to a rare personal airport welcome, kicking off a pomp-filled state visit aimed at smoothing superpower tensions on everything from AI and trade to Iran.

Mr Trump and First Lady Melania shook hands with Mr Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan after the Chinese president descended from his plane at Joint Base Andrews, a US military airfield outside Washington.

Mr Trump, wearing a long coat and gloves, and Mr Xi then stood side by side on the tarmac as a military band played, before two B-1 bombers staged a noisy flyover.

The personal airport greeting - a courtesy Trump was notably denied when he visited Beijing in May - begins three days of pageantry that will include another flyover and a state banquet at the White House today.

Six F-22 fighter jets and six F-16s were lined up on the tarmac in an apparent display of military might as US officials literally rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese leader.

Expectations of any breakthroughs are low, with analysts saying the main aim of the lavish spectacle is to maintain a fragile diplomatic and trade truce between the world's biggest economies.

Mr Xi was accompanied by his right-hand man Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, among others, according to Chinese state media.

But there were no Chinese CEOs in Mr Xi's delegation, two sources told AFP, even though top US tech bosses including the leaders of major AI companies are set to attend the White House state banquet.

Mr Xi's visit will wrap up on Friday morning when the two presidential couples have tea at the White House and then visit the National Archives, home to the US Declaration of Independence.

'Gentleman's agreement'

When the two leaders sit down for their highly anticipated talks today, they will be confronting a host of thorny issues led by fears, boosted by warnings from tech CEOs, that artificial intelligence risks wiping out humanity.

But with China and the United States racing for AI supremacy there are few expectations of any deal to regulate the rapidly advancing technology.

Preliminary talks on Sunday between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng included discussion of creating a communication channel for AI concerns.

The two men held further "substantive" talks on Wednesday to prepare for Mr Xi's visit, Mr Bessent said in a statement.

The simmering trade war between the world's two biggest economies will also loom large, with both sides looking at prolonging a tariff truce agreed when Mr Trump and Mr Xi met in South Korea last year.

Jonathan Czin of the Brookings Institution said that expectations were low for any concrete results from the meeting but "I think there will be some extension of the gentleman's agreement".

Analysts said that China had meanwhile begun to look past Mr Trump, whose second term ends in early 2029, and is in many ways playing for time and using the truce to consolidate its position.

Mr Trump is also expected to seek the release of some Americans and others detained in China, according to Reuters sources familiar with the plans.

The meeting comes at a difficult moment for Trump, who faces falling approval numbers as public discontent with his war on Iran grows. Mr Xi, while also facing challenges at home, arrives in a seemingly stronger position, with his country's trade engine roaring.

The leaders themselves may not feel they need to compromise, analysts said.

"The president very much believes that over time the US economy is going to grow, the US will get ‌stronger," said Edgard Kagan, a former White House official now with Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I think when Xi Jinping sits down with Donald Trump, he very much believes the US is in hurtling decline, and that time is on China's side."

Focus on pageantry

Mr Trump's five-star welcome for Mr Xi has drawn criticism from China hawks within his own party, especially amid reports that Beijing supplied Iran with intelligence for attacks on US troops.

"Our commander-in-chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator," said Republican Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mr Trump however has played down the need to bring up the allegations of Chinese help for Iran, justifying it on the grounds that both Beijing and Washington spy on each other.

For Mr Trump, Mr Xi's visit is also a chance to focus on pageantry instead of problems at home, where the Iran war's effect on fuel prices has sent his approval rating plummeting to historic lows ahead of midterm elections in November.

American presidents very rarely travel to the airport to greet foreign leaders, although Mr Trump welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin off his plane in Alaska last year.

The last such welcomes at Andrews, apart from papal visits, are believed to be John F. Kennedy's welcome for British prime minister Harold Macmillan in 1962, and Dwight D. Eisenhower's for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1959.

Read more:
China's exports surge on demand for high-tech, AI