President Trump is preparing to host Chinese president Xi Jinping at the White House next week for an official state visit, in which technology and trade are expected to be significant focuses, but experts look for the visit to focus on maintaining relationships.
We’re going to have a very good meeting. We’re gonna have a meeting. We get along well, we’re doing very well with China, Trump said Friday.
The meeting comes amidst questions around the trade relationship between countries, safety warnings from the AI industry, and the U.S. continued conflict with Iran.
“We’re gonna have a lot of different deals here. We intend, we are not just doing it for our health. We’re have some pretty important meeting, Trump said.
Officials expect AI to be on the agenda for the meeting between the leaders, though details of the potential message remain unclear. The summit comes as AI leaders are raising safety warnings about the technology, but the US balances competition with China and Trump has not suggested he has concerns about AI leading to human extinction.
“I’ve said it from the beginning. Whoever wins AI, and we’re leading by a lot. Whoever wins AI wins, Trump said earlier in the week.
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Guests at the state dinner are expected to include a number of technology and AI CEOs, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Michael Dell, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Jane Fraser and Tim Cook, many whom accompanied Trump to his state visit to Beijing last May.
Ahead of the meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are expected to meet with Chinas Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York.
The United States remains the leader in AI. And we are open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems. We expect our discussions to cover both open and closed weight models, Bessent stated.
The meeting is expected to focus on AI, trade, rare earths and other economic issues, according to a source familiar with the engagement.
The Trump Administration will continue to pursue balanced trade with China by monitoring the implementation of recent commitments, optimizing trade in non-sensitive goods, and improving market access for American farmers, manufacturers, and workers, Greer said in a statement.
The leaders could reduce tariffs for a narrow band of goods in non-sensitive and non strategic sectors senior US officials have suggested, but denied there would be an exchange of relaxed export controls for an increased flow of rare earths to the global market.
A one year agreement reached between the leaders in October 2025 suspended retaliatory tariffs and aimed to ease Chinas restrictions on rare earth exports.
China’s performance in that respect has not been up to par of what we would expect, officials said.
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While Trump said were gonna have a lot of different deals, there are not high expectations for major breakthrough from the summit from outside the administration.
My expectation for the state visit next week by Xi Jinping is that there will not be any breakthroughs, but there also will not be any breakdowns. That both sides are going to be managing for small gains and conflict avoidance, and that is going to be sort of the spirit through which both leaders approach this conversation, said Ryan Hass, a senior fellow and director of the John L. Thornton China Center at The Brookings Institution.
Hass expects the potential for a $30 billion tariff reduction, trade truce extension, purchases of U.S. products, and reiteration of some of the discussion on Iran.
However, Trump believes Xi Jingping has behaved reasonably well while US officials tout imposition of sanctions on Chinese entities, though Operation Economic Outcast, aimed to punish countries doing business with Iran, has not zeroed in on China at this point.
Meanwhile, allies and experts are also watching if and how Taiwan is mentioned.
Taiwan officials do not expect to be relevant in the conversation between leaders, but officials believe if it were raised it would be a standard response from the U.S., though they expect China to push its view on Taiwan, according to a Taiwanese government official.
Trump and Xi are expected to cap off the visit with a private tea and tour of the National Archives to view the U.S. founding documents as part of its 250th anniversary celebration.