President Trump rolled out the purple carpet for President Xi Jinping on Wednesday night at Joint Base Andrews, joined by the primary girl to personally welcome the Chinese language president and his spouse, Madame Peng Liyuan, to the USA for his or her high-stakes, three-day go to.
The 2 leaders are anticipated to debate numerous points, together with synthetic intelligence security, Taiwan, commerce, the struggle in Iran and significant minerals.
Trump and his motorcade rolled close to the sting of the purple carpet then the pomp and circumstance started.
President Donald Trump greets Chinese language President Xi Jinping upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Sept. 23, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Photos
The president and the primary girl held palms and walked to the foot of the steps in entrance of Xi’s aircraft, standing for just a few moments earlier than the Chinese language chief and Madame Peng descended.
The U.S. Air Pressure band started enjoying however paused because the leaders mingled on the backside of the steps.
Xi shook palms with some Chinese language officers earlier than the {couples} walked down the purple carpet, lined with U.S. service members. They stood for a photograph alternative on the backside of the carpet, the Air Pressure band beginning to play once more, and cannons went off. The Chinese language anthem performed first, then Trump saluted throughout “The Star Spangled Banner.”
President Donald Trump and first girl Melania Trump stroll with China’s President Xi Jinping and his spouse Peng Liyuan upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sept. 23, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Two B1 bombers flew low over the leaders.
The leaders and their spouses exchanged just a few extra pleasantries earlier than Xi and Madame Peng obtained into their automobile and Trump and the primary girl walked over his motorcade moments later. Neither Trump nor Xi made remarks.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives on the White Home on Marine One, Sept. 23, 2026, after greeting China’s President Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Talking to reporters after touchdown again on the White Home, Trump mentioned he would talk about Iran throughout Xi’s go to.
“We’ll see. We’ll see. I will be speaking about that and plenty of different topics. We’ll see, nevertheless it’s all coming alongside nicely, together with that,” Trump mentioned, when requested if he and Xi would deal with Iran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned Wednesday night that the U.S. and China reached an settlement to increase their commerce truce till Jan. 10.
“We have now agreed as we speak that we’ll prolong what we name the Busan Settlement. The detente — financial detente between the 2 nations that was scheduled to finish on Nov. 10, that’s going to be prolonged till Jan. 10, to offer us extra time to see what we are able to do on the financial entrance,” Bessent instructed Fox Information.
Requested if he thinks the Chinese language are looking for an even bigger deal now that there is extra time to hash out specifics, Bessent mentioned he did not know if that was potential.
“I do not know whether or not an even bigger deal could be performed. I do not know whether or not we’ll simply roll the present deal,” he instructed Fox. “There are some deliverables that haven’t been good on the Chinese language aspect so we additionally wish to see — now that we have sat down and instructed them our expectations, to see if over the approaching months, they might be a bit extra fulsome in enacting the settlement.”
President Donald Trump walks on a purple carpet after greeting Chinese language President Xi Jinping (L) throughout an arrival ceremony, Sept. 23, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos
The airport greeting was uncommon for Trump and displays the pomp and circumstance surrounding the go to as Trump historically greets overseas leaders on the White Home.
He’ll try this on Thursday when he and first girl Melania Trump welcome Xi and his spouse at a ceremony on the State Ground of the White Home. Trump and Xi may even take part in a evaluation of troops within the Rose Backyard earlier than they head into formal, personal talks.
Following that, Xi and his spouse would be the visitors of honor when Trump and the primary girl host the Chinese language delegation for a state dinner within the East Room, the place each leaders are anticipated to ship remarks.
President Donald Trump and first girl Melania Trump greet China’s President Xi Jinping and his spouse Peng Liyuan upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sept. 23, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Visitors scheduled to attend the state dinner embody tech executives like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Applied sciences, the White Home and a supply acquainted instructed ABC Information.
Additionally on the visitor checklist are Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, and Tim Cook dinner, who not too long ago stepped down because the CEO of Apple.
On Friday, Xi and his spouse are scheduled to affix Trump and the primary girl for a personal tea and a tour of the Nationwide Archives to view historic nationwide paperwork. Xi is predicted to depart the U.S. later Friday.
Xi’s final state go to to the U.S. was in September 2015 in the course of the Obama administration. Trump visited China final Might for talks with Xi.
ABC Information’ Emily Chang contributed to this report.
