Photo : YONHAP News
U.S. President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in a rare welcome at a military base near Washington as Xi began his three-day state visit to the United States.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Xi and Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday on the eve of the leaders’ summit at the White House.
This is their third in-person meeting, following previous talks in Busan last October and Beijing in May.
Xi’s U.S. arrival comes three years after the 2023 APEC summit in San Francisco, marking his first state visit to the country in eleven years.
The summit comes at a crucial juncture for both leaders, as Trump seeks stable relations with Xi ahead of the November midterm elections, while Xi aims to show a good outcome before the fifth plenum of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, scheduled for next month.
A main agenda item for the summit is the trade truce between the two countries, expiring in November.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Fox News that Washington and Beijing have agreed to extend “the Busan agreement” by two months, until January 10.
The current truce between the U.S. and China was reached during their summit in Busan last year, with Washington agreeing to suspend tariff increases on Chinese goods and Beijing agreeing to pause new export controls on rare earth elements and other critical minerals.
North Korea is also expected to be a key topic as Trump plans to resume diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year.
Observers speculate that Trump may seek a meeting with Kim during his next trip to Asia, likely for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen in November.