President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday for a state visit built around pageantry, but the closed-door talks produced no visible breakthroughs on Taiwan, artificial intelligence, trade, or the war involving Iran.
Xi pressed Washington to oppose “Taiwan independence” during the afternoon meeting, according to a readout issued by China’s state news agency Xinhua shortly after the session ended. The White House had not released its own account of the discussion by Thursday evening.
Taiwan Arms Sales Remain in Question
Xi had been expected to push Trump this week to halt US arms sales to Taiwan. After his trip to Beijing in May, Trump said he was holding back a $14 billion arms package to the island, describing it at the time as a “very good negotiating chip.”
That decision unsettled some US allies in Asia and drew quiet concern from Republicans who worry Trump could trade away support for Taipei to secure economic concessions from Beijing. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.
The summit followed Trump’s speech at the United Nations earlier this week, where he defended his willingness to use military force and said he could “annihilate” Iran. His tone with Xi on Thursday was noticeably different. Analysts point to a shift in leverage between the two leaders since a trade standoff earlier this year that ended with Washington backing down on tariffs.
Trump Emphasizes Personal Ties, Xi Talks Policy
Greeting Xi on Thursday, Trump spoke of a “truly great friendship” between the two men rather than dwelling on policy disputes. He said trade relations had improved since his May visit to China.
“During this visit, we will also discuss pressing issues concerning security, technology, and ‘super intelligence,'” Trump told reporters, using his preferred term for artificial intelligence.
Xi’s remarks carried a different tone. He said the two countries’ interests are closely linked and that competition between them should stay “healthy.” He added that US companies remain welcome in China and said he hopes “Chinese companies are treated fairly here in the United States.” Xi also called for regular military-to-military dialogue between the two nations to reduce the risk of miscalculation.
Edgard Kagan, a former senior White House official for East Asia now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the contrast in approach reflects two different strategies.
“The president is casting it very much as about his personal relationship with Xi,” Kagan said. “What I found interesting was Xi is being much more cautious and suggesting that it’s less about the personal relationship than the national relationship.”
Thursday marked Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade and the second meeting this year between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.
A Visit Built for Spectacle
Trump, who has long favored ceremony in his dealings with world leaders, treated the visit as a matter of national prestige as much as diplomacy. Yet the remarks from both leaders were not broadcast live by any major US television network. The networks declined to carry the footage after the White House barred CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the event.
Trump welcomed Xi on Wednesday evening with a red carpet reception at Joint Base Andrews, the first time a US president has greeted a foreign leader there since Barack Obama met Pope Francis in 2015, according to C-SPAN.
On Thursday, the two leaders watched a military ceremony that included a flyover at the Rose Garden. After their private meeting, Trump gave Xi a tour of a newly built helipad on the South Lawn.
“He loves good granite,” Trump told reporters afterward, calling the meeting “great” without offering further detail.
The optics carry political risk for Trump at home. With midterm elections approaching in November and Republicans defending narrow majorities in Congress, voters are already anxious about inflation and the ongoing conflict with Iran. Trump has spent months branding Democrats as “communists,” yet on Thursday he welcomed the head of the Chinese Communist Party as a personal friend, with Chinese flags hung alongside American ones above the Oval Office.
Analysts See Few Real Breakthroughs
Despite the ceremony, few expect the visit to produce major policy shifts. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday, after talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, that the two sides had agreed to extend a pause in their trade dispute until January 10.
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Thursday morning that AI, which he calls “super intelligence,” would be a major topic but signaled little appetite for new regulation, despite warnings from industry figures about the technology’s risks.
“Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is,” Trump wrote. “That is China’s position also.”
Xi struck a more cautious note on the same subject, saying both countries must “ensure that the development of AI is always under human control.”
Analysts expect the rivalry between the two nations in AI development to limit any cooperation beyond symbolic statements.
Behind the Scenes, Deeper Disputes Persist
People familiar with the discussions say the talks could yield agreements on lowering some tariffs, curbing drug trafficking, and expanding military dialogue. Trump is also expected to press for the release of Americans detained in China.
Xi holds a stronger hand than he did in earlier rounds of talks. China has posted strong trade growth this year, and Beijing controls much of the global supply of rare earth minerals, giving Xi added leverage in negotiations.
Both leaders have reasons to want stability. Trump remains tied down by an unpopular war involving Iran, while Xi is managing economic pressures at home. Still, disagreements over Taiwan, export controls, artificial intelligence, and the Iran conflict could resurface at any point.
Beijing has shown little willingness to pressure Iran, a longtime ally, into meeting US demands. During Thursday’s meeting, Xi voiced support for a ceasefire between the US and Iran and said he hopes the two sides eventually reach a peace agreement, according to Xinhua.
A Dinner Guest List Heavy With Tech Power
Thursday’s state dinner drew a list of attendees that included Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
Despite the presence of executives eager for looser trade rules, people familiar with US planning say Trump intends to keep existing export controls on American technology in place, controls that Beijing has pushed to have eased.
The state visit closes with both sides claiming progress on narrow issues like tariffs and trade timelines, but with the core disputes over Taiwan, technology, and the broader US-China rivalry left largely where they started.
