Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington, where President Donald Trump met him with a rare planeside greeting after their top officials agreed to extend a trade truce until January.
Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the extension of the truce — under which the countries agreed to scale back tariffs and refrain from imposing new trade restrictions — during a Fox News Channel interview as Trump welcomed Xi at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington.
“I don’t know whether a bigger deal can be done. I don’t know whether we will just roll the current deal,” Bessent said in the interview, noting the extension would give the leaders more time to talk about the issues at upcoming meetings in China in November and Florida in December.
Trump’s decision to greet Xi as he landed, rather than waiting for him to drive up to the White House, shows how far the US president is willing to go to honour China's leader as he made his first state visit to the US capital in more than a decade.
A 30-metre-long red carpet was unfurled at the bottom of the staircase placed at the door of Xi's plane. A 21-person honour guard was arrayed on the sides of the carpet, and Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stood near a staircase on the side of the plane, where they greeted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, with handshakes.
The welcome ceremony also included a flyover by two B-1 bombers, platoons from each military service, and a presentation of the flags and anthems of both countries.
Trump and his wife spoke to their counterparts, but their words could not be heard. Trump, who wore gloves and an overcoat though it was a relatively warm 17C outside, removed one of his gloves to shake hands with Xi. At one point, he slapped Xi on the back and said something to him that was inaudible.
“I think they appreciate it, tremendous people,” Trump said to reporters after he returned to the White House.
In a statement marking his arrival in the US, China’s leader wrote that his country and the US “should be partners, not rivals. Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand, and the two countries can contribute to each other’s success, thereby benefiting the wider world”.
The salutation kicks off a three-day visit that's expected to be saturated with pomp, even by White House standards. The state visit, complete with a formal state dinner at the White House, is supposed to reciprocate the ceremonial grandeur that marked Trump's May visit to China.
But it is also a showy patina at a time when tensions between the two geopolitical rivals are high over trade, artificial intelligence, Trump's war with Iran and China's designs on Taiwan.
Beyond using the visit to try to keep “strategic stability” between the two countries, Trump has lavished praise on Xi as a “great leader” and described a warm relationship with the man he has called a friend. That is all while he has given Xi a pass on many issues.
Trump has made it clear he wants to wow Xi, telling reporters in recent weeks that he was delighted his new “work of art” helicopter landing pad would be ready for the visit while bemoaning that his massive White House ballroom would not.
Trump has made it clear he wants to wow Xi, telling reporters in recent weeks that he was delighted his new “work of art” helicopter landing pad would be ready for the visit while bemoaning that his massive White House ballroom would not.
“I wish we had it for tomorrow night," Trump said. "We have a packed house tomorrow night for President Xi.”
Trump was looking to match the pageantry he saw in China earlier this year. Xi was not at the airport to meet Trump — Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was there instead. But a red carpet was rolled out to meet Air Force One in Beijing.
A military honour guard, a military band and about 300 Chinese youths waving Chinese and American flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome! Warm welcome!” were also present. The children wore white and light blue uniforms that mirrored the traditional paint colours of the presidential plane.
The first lady said that her husband decided to personally greet Xi when he arrived in the Washington region because “they have a great relationship”.
“He’s coming on our soil, and we need to welcome them with the most respect,” she said of Xi and his wife during an interview on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends.
The long red carpet recalled a similar extra-long one the US laid out for Russian President Vladimir Putin when he touched down at a US Air Force base in Alaska last summer for a summit aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine.
When Putin arrived in August 2025, he shook hands with Trump while both grinned. They then took the unusual step of climbing into Trump’s limo to share a ride to the building where they were holding talks.
At the end of the arrival ceremony, Xi and his wife climbed into their own car, and the Trumps retreated to theirs.
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