Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the United States from September 23 to 25 at the invitation of US President Donald Trump, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry announced on Monday (September 21). He is expected to hold talks with Trump in Washington on September 24. The meeting is likely to discuss trade, artificial intelligence, rare earth supplies, Taiwan and the war involving Iran.
The visit will be Xi’s first trip to the White House in more than a decade. He last made a state visit to the United States in September 2015, when Barack Obama was the president. Xi and Trump have met once this year during the US president’s state visit to China in May.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the president will hold talks with his American counterpart on major issues involving China-US relations and international affairs. The announcement came while senior Chinese and US officials are holding economic and trade consultations in Washington.
He Lifeng leads trade talks
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng is leading a delegation in the United States from September 19 to 23 for economic and trade consultations with the US side. China’s Ministry of Commerce said the talks would cover economic and trade issues of mutual interest and would follow the understandings reached by Xi and Trump.
The timing gives the two sides an opportunity to work on trade issues before the two leaders meet. Reuters reported that the talks could include extending the existing trade truce, rare earth export licences and Chinese purchases of US goods. Washington is also seeking access to critical minerals, while Beijing wants relief from some US technology restrictions.
Trade has been one of the most difficult areas in the relationship between the two countries. Trump has repeatedly used tariffs as a tool in negotiations with Beijing. On September 18, he said the United States is “doing very well with China”, and he and Xi have a good relationship.
“We’re doing very well with China. I would say others maybe not so well, but we’re doing very well with China. And President Xi and I have a good relationship. We’re going to have a lot of different deals,” he said.
“We intend – we’re not just doing it for our health. We’re going to have some pretty important meetings,” he added.
Trump also referred to the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods during his present term. He said US tariffs on China had reached 145 per cent at one point before being reduced.
“China is paying us a lot of tariffs. And, you remember, I had it up to 145% at one point, but it was too much. It was really hurting them badly, and I didn’t want to do that,” Trump said.
AI, rare earths and Taiwan on the agenda
Artificial intelligence is expected to be another major subject during the meeting. The United States and China are competing over advanced AI systems, computing power and the technology needed to build them. The two governments are also dealing with restrictions on advanced technology exports and access to high-end chips.
Rare earths are another major issue. China has a dominant position in the processing of many rare earth minerals used in electronics, electric vehicles, defence equipment and other industries. According to Reuters, the United States wants China to provide greater access to critical minerals, while Beijing is seeking relief from some technology-related restrictions.
Taiwan will also feature in the talks. The issue has been one of the most difficult areas in US-China relations, with Beijing claiming Taiwan as part of China and Washington maintaining longstanding ties with Taipei. US allies in Asia are looking for any change in Trump’s approach to Taiwan ahead of the meeting, according to Reuters.
The two presidents also have the war involving Iran to discuss. Washington wants Beijing to use its economic relationship with Tehran to help deal with the conflict, while China has maintained its own ties with Iran. The US-Iran war is also expected to feature in the talks between Washington and Beijing.
Trump plans airport welcome for Xi
The United States is preparing a formal reception for the Chinese president. Trump plans to personally greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews when he arrives in the Washington area, Reuters reported. A formal welcome ceremony at the White House and a state dinner are also planned.
The state dinner is expected to bring together senior political and business leaders. Technology executives including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Apple’s Tim Cook, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are among those expected to attend.
The two leaders have spent considerable time rebuilding direct contact this year. During Trump’s May state visit to China, Xi hosted him at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The two sides discussed trade, the Middle East, Ukraine and other international issues. Xi said at the time that China and the United States should strengthen cooperation in areas including trade, technology and law enforcement.
