Washington .- The President of the United States, Donald Trump, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will meet on Thursday at the White House, in their second meeting this year, with the goal of easing growing tensions over trade, the Iran war, the future of Taiwan, and the race for artificial intelligence (AI).
The Chinese leader is scheduled to land this Wednesday, after 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT), at Andrews Air Force Base, on the outskirts of Washington, where he will be received at the foot of the stairs by Trump himself, a gesture that the American has not extended to any other head of state.
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The central event of the three-day visit to the U.S. capital will be Thursday’s bilateral meeting at the presidential residence, where Trump will also host a state dinner for Xi.
It will be Xi’s first visit to the White House in more than a decade, since the one he made in 2015 at the invitation of then-President Barack Obama.
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It will also be the third meeting between the two since Trump’s return to power in 2025, following those held in October of last year in Busan (South Korea) and last May in Beijing.
Although no major agreements are expected, the cordial tone of previous meetings is expected to be maintained, in which the leaders of the two main world powers have opted to preserve channels of dialogue and prioritize their supposed good personal rapport.
Tariff war and the AI race
Trade occupies a large part of the agenda between the world’s two largest economies, which managed to curb the escalation that began after the tariff war launched by Trump last year against numerous trading partners and met by Beijing with equally high levies.
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The trade truce, which expires in November, will be one of the central issues of the conversation, along with access to critical minerals and rare earths, which are fundamental for the technology and defense industries.
China dominates a good part of that market, a position that Washington views with growing concern.
Another point of friction is the dizzying development of AI. Trump resists imposing restrictions that, in his view, could hold the United States back against China, despite warnings from some industry leaders about the risks of advancing without sufficient controls.
“Whoever wins in the field of AI, wins,” Trump declared last week while dismissing regulations that, according to him, could slow down the development of this technology.
From the Iran conflict to the future of Taiwan
Trump arrives at the meeting with Xi in a more fragile position than in May, with the Iran war stalled and the risk that the conflict will take its toll on the Republicans ahead of the November midterm legislative elections.
The American president seeks to increase the economic isolation of the Islamic Republic, but China defends its right to trade with Tehran, of which it is the main buyer of oil.
Likewise, Trump ratified a law last week that allows for the imposition of new tariffs on countries that buy oil and gas from Russia and Iran, just as Beijing does, but he has so far avoided announcing punishments for China so as not to jeopardize the summit with Xi.
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Regarding Taiwan, whose sovereignty Beijing claims, Xi is expected to insist that Trump limit U.S. arms supplies to the island, the annexation of which China does not rule out achieving by force.
Trump maintains an ambiguous position on Taiwan and, since his last meeting with Xi, has stalled an arms package for the island, which he considers a “bargaining chip” to negotiate other issues with Beijing.
However, his Administration maintains that it has not altered the historic U.S. policy toward Taiwan: under the “one China” principle, Washington does not recognize the island’s formal independence, although it maintains the commitment to provide it with the means to defend itself.
Dialogue amidst differences
Asked about Xi’s visit, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued today that his country and China have “the obligation to interact and talk at the highest level” despite “significant disagreements.”
“The U.S. and China are the two largest economies in the world and two of the main military powers. The relationship between both will be decisive for the 21st century, we have the obligation to interact and speak at the highest level,” he noted in a press conference in New York.
Rubio acknowledged “significant discrepancies,” especially regarding trade and, concerning the suspended sale of arms to Taiwan, whose sovereignty Beijing claims, he asserted that the U.S. had already completed in December “the largest arms sale operation to the island up to that moment.”
According to Rubio, Xi’s trip to Washington is part of an agreement for reciprocal visits and he anticipated “new opportunities for contact” during the upcoming APEC summits in China and the G20 in Florida.
