Trump greets Xi Jinping on arrival in rare move as US-China trade truce extended — SkimNews
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- Donald Trump and Melania Trump welcomed Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews — departing from the standard White House arrival — with a 30-metre red carpet, a B-1 bomber flyover, and both nations' flags and anthems.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced after meeting Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng that the two countries had extended the Busan agreement trade truce until January 10, two months past its scheduled expiration.
- The White House invited tech executives from OpenAI, Apple, xAI, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Meta to Thursday's state dinner for Xi, placing US-China AI competition squarely on the state-visit agenda.
- Xi Jinping declined to address the UN General Assembly in New York the same week he is in the US, prompting International Crisis Group's Richard Gowan to note: "a lot of people will say: 'Where is the real center of decision-making?'"
- Trump visibly winced at a military jet flyover during the arrival ceremony while Xi remained impassive; the moment was widely mocked online and was cut from the White House's edited highlights.
- Trump dismissed warnings about AI dangers, writing on Truth Social: "WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!" and framing US AI dominance as essential to beating China militarily and economically.
- The two-day state visit continues Thursday with a formal South Lawn welcome, private tea with the president, a National Archives tour, and the tech-executive state dinner.
Why it matters: The Busan truce extension to January 10 buys the world's two largest economies two additional months of trade de-escalation, while Trump's decision to greet Xi on the tarmac — rather than at the White House — signals that bilateral optics now outweigh multilateral forums like the UNGA, where Xi won't appear. Bringing OpenAI, Nvidia, and Meta CEOs to the state dinner puts AI supremacy at the center of US-China diplomacy.
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