US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping exchanged warm words at a lavish White House state dinner but gave little indication of progress on pressing issues.
Xi stressed that they should ensure AI remain “under human control” and act “as responsible major countries”, while Trump toasted a future of “harmony, peace and success” for both nations.
But tensions remain despite the diplomatic niceties, including over Taiwan – with Xi urging Trump earlier in the day to take the “correct position” on the self-governing island which Beijing claims, amid a weapons package paused by Trump.
Billionaire business leaders and US tech CEOs joined the leaders at the extravagant dinner late on Thursday.
Their arrival was marked by protesters shouting from just outside the White House gates, some of whom were arrested.
Trump lavished praise on Xi during his first visit to the US in over a decade, telling those attending the dinner that while the two countries had “different systems”, they had “never gotten along better”.
Xi meanwhile welcomed the “historic juncture” in US-China relations – and said both leaders’ ambitions could “surely be mutually reinforcing”.
“China and the United States must act as responsible major countries to meet the expectations of our peoples, keep pace with the trend of our times, and explore a new approach for major countries to get along with each other,” he said.
While Xi said he and Trump had shared “in-depth exchanges and reached common understanding on many issues”, little mention was made of the crucial matters which divide the leaders of the world’s two most powerful countries.
China believes the US is trying to contain its rise as a superpower, and it wants Washington to stay out of its way – particularly when it comes to trade, technology and Taiwan.
Trump has meanwhile been expected to aim for deals around trade and tariffs during the visit – like lowering Chinese tariffs on American goods, increasing imports of Chinese rare earth minerals, and increasing exports of US agricultural products.
Back at the White House after the dinner on Friday morning, Xi said he believed he and Trump were “charting the course for the great shift of China-US relations”.
He also confirmed that the two men would meet two more times by year’s end, at the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or Apec, leaders’ meeting in Shenzhen, China in November and again at the G20 held in Florida in November.
The evening marked a continuation of the lavish welcome Xi has so far received in the US.
Trump presented the Chinese president with a sculpture of a bald eagle – America’s national symbol – saying it embodied “the free and soaring spirit of America”. First Lady Melania had participated in its design, Trump added.
Others in attendance included key White House figures, such as Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, chief of staff Monica Crowley, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
They were joined by scores of US officials, as well as conservative broadcasters, tech industry bosses, social media CEOs and corporate executives.
Apple’s Tim Cook and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang were seated at the same table as Trump and Xi, as was Elon Musk, who previously worked in Trump’s administration leading the effort to shrink government.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos were also present, as were Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Yass, the American billionaire who owns a share of TikTok.
