Trump lays out the pomp for Xi but says little about the significant
tensions in US-China relations
[September 25, 2026]
By AAMER MADHANI, DIDI TANG and MICHELLE L. PRICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met for high
stakes talks on Thursday at an urgent moment for the U.S.-China
relationship, with the world’s preeminent powers divided on the war in
Iran and still grappling to find common ground on trade and how to best
navigate the jarring advances of artificial intelligence.
With their countries in a generational contest for economic and
technological dominance, the two appear to be betting that a combination
of personal rapport and mutual interest can prevent the competition from
boiling over into open conflict.
“From the time of my first election in 2016, President Xi and I have
forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually, built on mutual
respect and the vital interests of our people,” Trump said as he
welcomed Xi to the White House for a pomp-filled state visit.
Xi was more pointed than Trump, saying Chinese and American interests
are “deeply intertwined” and that the “competition should be a healthy
one and should be kept within bounds.”
He also reiterated his warning that the U.S. and China must avoid the “
Thucydides trap,” referring to the idea that when a rising power
threatens to displace an established one, the result is often war. Xi
offered a similar warning when Trump visited Beijing in May.
“It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in
which one either wins or loses,” Xi added.
China has resisted the Trump administration's urgings — and economic
threats — to use its considerable leverage to prod Iran to agree to U.S.
terms to end the nearly seven-month war. Xi wants to see Trump
permanently halt arms sales to Taiwan and loosen export restrictions on
cutting-edge advanced chips. The two sides on Wednesday agreed to extend
by two months a one-year trade truce that was set to expire Nov. 10 as
they work to find a more durable agreement.
Xi presses Trump on Taiwan
During their private conversation on Thursday, Xi told Trump he hopes
the U.S. can adhere to opposing Taiwan independence and urged him to
“prudently handle the Taiwan issue,” according to the Chinese state
media outlet Xinhua. The White House did not immediately release any
readout of the talks and Trump, who frequently offers his own take of
his interactions with foreign leaders on his social media platform, has
yet to weigh in on the substance of his conversations with Xi.
Trump, who is in the midst of a legal fight after trying to bar CNN,
MSNOW, and Politico from the White House, did complain that TV networks
“refused to cover one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take
place in many years.” The White House’s five-network television pool
rotation refused to cover Trump’s events in response to the action
against CNN.
China has made clear it views Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in the
U.S.-China relationship. Beijing considers Taiwan to be Chinese
territory and vows to annex the island by force if necessary. The United
States is obligated by law to provide Taiwan with sufficient hardware to
deter any armed attack from the mainland. The U.S. has said it opposes
any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side.
China has repeatedly pressed Washington to permanently halt the arms
sales, including when Trump and Xi met in Beijing in May.
After that meeting, Trump said he was holding off on final approval for
a record $14 billion arms package that was in the pipeline. He also
described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with
China.
Xi says China and US should make sure AI is ‘always under human
control’
Trump said in a social media post earlier Thursday that artificial
intelligence — “superintelligence” as he is trying to rebrand it — was
high on the agenda. The president has been dismissive of calls for
greater regulation amid growing global anxiety that the technology will
kill jobs or potentially even wipe out humanity.
“I want to leave it exactly where it is,” Trump wrote. “That is China’s
position also.”
But Xi, in his opening comments, said that the two countries had “the
capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good and
ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and
serves the well-being of the people.”
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President Donald Trump gives a toast during a State Dinner for
China's President Xi Jinping in the East Room at the White House,
Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The two countries’ finance ministers met earlier this week, with the
U.S. proposing a new “notification mechanism” for AI incidents
between the two nations.
Trump rolls out the red carpet for Xi
Trump had made clear he wanted to impress Xi with the visit. The
Republican president made sure construction of a new helicopter
landing pad on the White House's South Lawn was completed before the
visit and he met Xi and his wife on Wednesday evening when they flew
into Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.
The White House also arranged an elaborate military review, which
the leaders and their spouses observed before the Oval Office talks.
After about 90 minutes of talks, the leaders stepped out to the
South Lawn so Trump could show off the new White House helipad and
give Xi a tour of Marine One, the presidential helicopter. Trump and
Xi also appeared to peer at the ballroom construction site from
afar. Xi left the White House shortly after the quick tour and
returned in the evening for the state dinner.
No Chinese CEOs at state dinner
Tech titans, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Nvidia's Jensen Huang,
and Tesla and SpaceX's Elon Musk, were among the 130 guests invited
to the black-tie dinner, but Chinese CEOs were conspicuously absent.
U.S. and Chinese planners did discuss including several executives
from some notable Chinese companies, according to a person familiar
with the planning for the state visit who was not authorized to
comment publicly.
One obstacle that came up during the negotiations for the state
visits was that the U.S. side was slow to propose protocols and
clarify the roles the Chinese CEOs would have during the state
visit, the person said. The White House did not respond to a request
for comment about the absence of Chinese business leaders.
While Trump has offered plenty of glitz, some China analysts
observed that the talks seemed light on substance.
Danny Russel, a former senior State Department official who served
in former President Barack Obama's administration, observed that the
two leaders spent more time in social and ceremonial events than in
formal talks about the core issues facing the two nations.
“What we’re seeing isn’t diplomacy so much as ‘diplotainment,’ which
won’t do much to solve the serious problems in the US-China
relationship,” said Russel, who is now a distinguished fellow at the
Asia Society Policy Institute..
Xi urges US and Iran to return to interim agreement
The two sides discussed the ongoing conflict in Iran, according to
Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television.
Trump has argued to little effect that China, which is far more
dependent on Gulf oil than the U.S., has plenty of incentive to use
its sway with Tehran to help force an end to the conflict.
But Trump's war of choice has unnerved Beijing, with the government
condemning the U.S. and Israeli military action and Xi previously
expressing concerns that the conflict signaled a return to what he
called the “law of the jungle.” The U.S. administration has warned
China, Tehran's biggest trading partner, not to aid Iran’s military
effort.
Xi, during Thursday's talks, said China supports the U.S. and Iran
returning to a short-lived interim deal from the summer to wind down
the war, according to CCTV. That agreement broke down soon after it
was signed in June as the countries traded renewed fire over control
of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for energy shipments.
___
Associated Press writers Bill Barrow, Collin Binkley, Josh Boak,
Kevin Freking, Seung Min Kim, Darlene Superville and Will Weissert
and AP photographer Jacquelyn Martin contributed to this report.
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