“We’re doing very well with China”: Trump eyes multiple deals ahead of Xi Jinping’s first White House visit in a decade
Washington DC [US], September 19 (ANI): US President Donald Trump said Washington is “doing very well with China” and expects to discuss multiple agreements with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his upcoming visit to the White House, which would mark Xi’s first visit to the US presidential residence in more than a decade.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said he and Xi have maintained a good relationship and expressed confidence that the upcoming meeting would produce important discussions and deals.
“We’re doing very well with China. I would say others maybe not so well, but we’re doing very well with China. And President Xi and I have a good relationship. We’re going to have a lot of different deals,” Trump said.
“We intend – we're not just doing it for our health. We’re going to have some pretty important meetings,” he added.
Trump also spoke about the tariff relationship between the two countries, recalling that US tariffs on Chinese goods had at one point reached 145 per cent before being reduced.
“China is paying us a lot of tariffs. And, you remember, I had it up to 145% at one point, but it was too much. It was really hurting them badly, and I didn’t want to do that,” Trump said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington this week for his first White House visit in more than a decade, a state visit set to bring the world’s two largest economies face to face over trade, artificial intelligence and Taiwan.
The visit, detailed by senior US officials on a background briefing call, follows Trump’s own trip to Beijing in May, when Xi hosted him at the Great Hall of the People, and the two leaders agreed to what they called a “constructive, strategic and stable relationship". Trump is now expected to reciprocate with full state-visit honours.
According to the schedule shared by officials, Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, will land at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, where Trump will personally greet them. On Thursday, both couples will take part in a formal White House arrival ceremony and military review before the two presidents sit down for bilateral talks.
Melania Trump and Madame Peng will follow a separate programme of engagements in Washington that day.
That evening, the Trumps will host a state dinner for the Chinese delegation in the East Room, where both presidents are expected to speak. Officials confirmed a notable guest list, including tech and business leaders Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai, Michael Dell, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman, Jane Fraser and Tim Cook, a signal of how central technology and trade ties are to this visit.
On Friday, the two couples will have private tea at the White House before touring the National Archives to view America’s founding documents, timed to the 250th anniversary of US independence, after which Xi will depart from Joint Base Andrews.
The current US-China tariff truce, agreed at the Busan summit last October, is due to expire in November, and officials said its future, along with existing chip export licences, would be discussed, though no outcome has been pre-decided. Washington has ruled out trading away its export controls on rare earth flows in exchange for concessions, officials said, while confirming discussions are under way about reducing tariffs on a narrow band of “non-strategic” goods that could benefit both economies.
Artificial intelligence is also expected to be a central topic, building on ideas not yet agreed upon, such as previewing new AI models between the two countries or extending oversight to Chinese open-source systems. US officials declined to detail a firm negotiating position ahead of the leaders’ meeting.
On other contentious fronts, officials said Washington continues to press Beijing over the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals to cartels in Mexico and that Trump is expected, based on past patterns, to again raise the cases of Americans held in Chinese prisons.
Despite the choreography of state dinners and archive tours, the relationship’s most sensitive fault line remains Taiwan. Beijing has previously warned Washington against crossing what it calls “red lines” on the issue, and reports suggest a pending $14 billion US arms package for Taiwan could still complicate the summit’s tone. American officials on the call did not directly address Taiwan when pressed on other subjects, an indication of how carefully both sides are managing the topic ahead of the visit.
For India and other economies watching from the sidelines, the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting carries real weight. A durable US-China trade détente or a fresh flare-up over tariffs, chips and rare earths would ripple through global supply chains, technology markets and commodity prices that touch Indian industry directly.
Two further Trump-Xi encounters are already expected this year, at the APEC summit in November and the G20 in December, suggesting this week’s talks are unlikely to be the final word. (ANI)
