WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, who has accused China of hacking the U.S. election and looting its wealth, expressed respect and love for visiting Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a summit at the White House this week.
Trump met with his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, a suburb of Washington, rather than return to the White House for formal greetings. It was the first time he had shown such courtesy to a visiting world leader.
Trump rolled out the red carpet for Xi Jinping, not once, but twice. After Xi Jinping’s Air China special plane landed in Andrews, the leaders of the two countries walked side by side on the 100-foot-long red carpet. Another red carpet was rolled out as Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan arrived at the White House on Thursday morning for the first day of the summit.
In the evening, Trump hosted Xi Jinping at a state dinner, where the menu included sesame seabass and braised cabbage, followed by a dessert of vanilla cream and honey ice cream.
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President Trump holds landmark meeting with Chinese leaders
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“As leaders of our two countries, President Xi and I understand that we represent different systems, but the bond between our people is enduring, and we have never gotten along so well since the first trading ship left port in New York and arrived along the Pearl River,” Trump said at the dinner.
He gave his guests a vulture statue as a gift.
All the pomp and ceremony may seem unusual, given Trump’s past complaints about China interfering in elections and exploiting the United States through trade. Just two months ago, Trump gave a rare prime-time address in which he claimed China interfered in the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.
But Trump, who has long viewed personal relationships as key to managing geopolitical tensions, began working to attract China’s leaders.
“Since I was first elected in 2016, President Xi and I have forged a friendship – indeed a truly great friendship – based on mutual respect and the vital interests of our people,” Trump said in a joint public statement Thursday morning ahead of a private meeting in the Oval Office.
Xi Jinping struck a cordial tone in his speech, saying he and Trump had established a “personal rapport and maintained contact.”
Xi Jinping also announced news that is sure to please American children and anyone who has ever logged into a panda cam to relieve stress in their lives: China will soon send two giant pandas, Pingping and Fushang, to Zoo Atlanta.
“Frankly, if the White House came to me for advice, I would advise the president not to invite Xi Jinping to come to Washington and receive such a grand welcome here in the United States because of all the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and an unusual member of Trump’s party, said Wednesday in remarks on the Senate floor.
China may also provide aid to Iran in a war with the United States. An F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran in April was likely hit by a Chinese-made shoulder-fired missile, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News. China may have provided Iran with radar capabilities to help it detect stealth aircraft early in the seven-month conflict, a person familiar with the matter and a U.S. official familiar with the matter said.
Respect for the leader of the world’s largest communist country could also undermine Trump’s argument to smear Democrats in the midterm elections. He repeatedly warned that Democratic candidates, if elected, would lead the United States in a communist direction.
“I personally think this red carpet treatment is a little over the top,” Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told NBC News on Thursday.
Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy said in an interview that while he wouldn’t mind seeing Xi Jinping host a dinner, “I don’t think the president should believe his nonsense…”
After the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran on February 28, the Iranian regime strangled the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for oil supplies.
Xi Jinping “can open the strait with a phone call and help Iran with military equipment and intelligence in many ways,” Kennedy said. “This guy learned to lie before he learned to talk.”
Foreign policy experts said they expected no substantial breakthroughs at the summit. The two presidents will discuss trade, the war with Iran and artificial intelligence, among other issues that divide the U.S. and China. Experts say Trump enters the summit in a weak position due to the protracted war with Iran and looming congressional midterm elections in which his party may lose its slim majority. Experts say he lacks the leverage needed to force China to make concessions.
“We have a president who is playing a weak card going into this,” retired Navy Adm. Mark Montgomery said at a pre-summit event hosted by the FDD think tank. “I’m not 100 percent sure President Trump knew he was playing a weak card. I’m 100 percent sure President Xi Jinping knew Trump was playing a weak card.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview on “Fox & Friends” this week that one area of cooperation could be the establishment of a hotline that the United States and China could use to respond to emergencies caused by rapidly developing artificial intelligence technology.
“It’s not a bad idea; we’re going to explore it with the Chinese and others,” Rubio said.
In addition to closed-door meetings, Trump also went out of his way to showcase his precious White House plans. He took Xi outside to see the helipad he was building on the South Lawn. Both pointed to the granite base.
As the leaders passed by the press corps at one point, Trump said, “We had a great meeting.” Xi, he said, “among many other things, is a stone expert, and he loves good granite.”
Xi Jinping said nothing.
Trump walked with Xi along the West Wing colonnade, pointing to his “Presidential Walk of Fame” – photos and biographies of former presidents. He paused in front of a portrait of Biden and showed how he mocked Biden by calling him an “automatic pen,” a device the president uses when he doesn’t have time to sign documents. A video clip released by the White House showed the two presidents giggling at a photo of Biden and Trump giving Xi Jinping a friendly pat on the arm.
It may be difficult for Trump to confront Xi Jinping at the moment. Xi Jinping is president for life; Trump is a president at risk of losing his congressional majority. His approval ratings have sunk to their lowest point in his second term.
One source of Xi Jinping’s influence is his control over rare earth materials used in high-tech manufacturing. Last year, Trump imposed high tariffs on China, triggering a trade war. Trump has long complained that China’s trade policies have led to the loss of American wealth.
A White House statement issued in April 2025 related to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs said that China’s actions “allowed China to occupy a global dominance in critical manufacturing industries, thereby destroying American industry.”
But China’s control of rare earth supplies has proven to be an effective countermeasure, a resource the Trump administration cannot afford to lose. The two sides agreed to a trade truce last year and agreed on Wednesday to extend the truce for two months, from November 10 to January 10.
Viewers trying to watch the summit livestream faced unusual difficulties after Trump imposed a media ban last week. He banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House grounds, prompting them to sue to regain access.
CNN (CNN) is part of a five-network news “pool” that provides real-time coverage of the president’s public events. In solidarity with CNN and other banned outlets, other networks have chosen to suspend pool coverage of Trump.
There was chaos in the hours leading up to Xi Jinping’s arrival. ABC News was scheduled to provide a collection of video sources. A White House official quickly approached an online reporter and asked where the cameras were. ABC declined to comment because it was unclear when access to the banned media would be restored.
Trump noted the decline in television coverage. He wrote on social media that CNN and MS NOW “refuse to cover one of the biggest and most beautiful events to have happened in years, the arrival of the highly respected Chinese President Xi Jinping and his beautiful wife Ms. Peng at the White House.”
Reporters from CNN and MS NOW were unable to report Xi Jinping’s arrival at the White House. They were still barred from entering the White House until about two hours after Xi showed up, despite a federal judge ruling overnight that their access must be restored.
According to media reports, Trump joked that China had the friendliest press corps while taking a photo with Xi Jinping later that day.
Reporters Without Borders’ survey of global press freedom ranked China 178th out of 180 countries, sandwiched between North Korea and Iran.