President Trump rolled out the purple carpet for President Xi Jinping on Wednesday night at Joint Base Andrews, joined by the primary woman to personally welcome the Chinese language president and his spouse, Madame Peng Liyuan, to the US for his or her high-stakes, three-day go to.
The 2 leaders are anticipated to debate quite a few points, together with synthetic intelligence security, Taiwan, commerce, the conflict in Iran and important 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 woman held fingers and walked to the foot of the steps in entrance of Xi’s airplane, standing for just a few moments earlier than the Chinese language chief and Madame Peng descended.
The U.S. Air Power band started taking part in however paused because the leaders mingled on the backside of the steps.
Xi shook fingers 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 Power 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 woman 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 bought into their automobile and Trump and the primary woman 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 stated he would focus on 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, but it surely’s all coming alongside effectively, together with that,” Trump stated, when requested if he and Xi would tackle Iran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated Wednesday night that the U.S. and China reached an settlement to increase their commerce truce till Jan. 10.
“We now have agreed at the moment 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 present us extra time to see what we are able to do on the financial entrance,” Bessent advised Fox Information.
Requested if he thinks the Chinese language are searching for an even bigger deal now that there is extra time to hash out specifics, Bessent stated he did not know if that was potential.
“I do not know whether or not an even bigger deal may be performed. I do not know whether or not we are going to simply roll the present deal,” he advised Fox. “There are some deliverables that haven’t been excellent on the Chinese language aspect so we additionally need to see — now that we have sat down and advised 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 international leaders on the White Home.
He’ll do this on Thursday when he and first woman Melania Trump welcome Xi and his spouse at a ceremony on the State Ground of the White Home. Trump and Xi will even take part in a overview of troops within the Rose Backyard earlier than they head into formal, non-public talks.
Following that, Xi and his spouse would be the friends of honor when Trump and the primary woman 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 woman 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 advised ABC Information.
Additionally on the visitor record are Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, and Tim Prepare dinner, who lately stepped down because the CEO of Apple.
On Friday, Xi and his spouse are scheduled to hitch Trump and the primary woman 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 throughout the Obama administration. Trump visited China final Could for talks with Xi.
ABC Information’ Emily Chang contributed to this report.
