Trump and Xi open Washington summit with trade, AI, Taiwan and Iran topping the agenda

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington for a three-day state visit, with US President Donald Trump personally greeting him on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews — the first time in more than six decades that a sitting American president has welcomed a foreign leader at the military base near the capital.

The two leaders convened at the White House on Thursday, opening their summit with a formal arrival ceremony on the South Lawn attended by nearly 500 military personnel, followed by bilateral meetings and a state dinner. Artificial intelligence, trade tariffs, Taiwan, and the conflict in Iran are the central issues on the agenda, alongside discussions on military ties, the Russia-Ukraine war, the arms race in space, and US arms sales to Taiwan.

Trump signalled ahead of the talks that AI would feature prominently, saying both countries wished to maintain their current positions on the technology and pointing to existing domestic safeguards overseeing American AI companies. Taiwan's role as the world's leading producer of advanced semiconductors has added a further dimension to the AI discussion, given those chips underpin the global race for artificial intelligence dominance.

A group of Chinese business executives who travelled to Washington separately from Xi's official delegation were reported to be awaiting invitations to the state dinner, reflecting the commercial stakes attached to the visit.