Chinese President Xi Jinping, leader of the country’s ruling Communist Party, will depart the United States today, but not before a final stop at the National Archives.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will first meet President Xi Jinping and his wife, Madame Peng Liyuan, for morning tea at the White House’s Red Room. After that, the couples will head to the National Archives for what the White House describes as a viewing of “a variety of important records and documents significant to the American and Chinese relationship throughout history.”
From there, Trump will bid Xi farewell, and the whirlwind two-and-a-half day summit, underscored by a palpable tension, will conclude.
The National Archives houses some of America’s most important documents, including the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.
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The two heads of state met at the White House on Thursday morning, which began with a state arrival ceremony consisting of military honors, a review of troops, the Chinese and American national anthems and a flyover by a B-2 stealth bomber in formation with four fighter jets. A frenzied press, foreign and domestic, scurried around the White House grounds to catch glimpses of Trump and Xi, who does not often visit the West.
Trump and his administration officials held bilateral talks with the Chinese delegation from the late morning into the early afternoon, lasting for several hours. Xi and Trump also spoke behind closed doors in the Oval Office. After the meetings, Trump escorted Xi to the White House’s South Lawn, where the pair viewed Marine One, and the new helipad on which it sits.
They also toured the White House ballroom, which is under construction, and Trump showed Xi the Presidential Walk of Fame outside the West Wing, which features headshots of presidents past.
Trump installed an image of an autopen in Biden’s place on the Presidential Walk of Fame, a reference to Trump’s repeated attacks on the former president’s use of an autopen while in office. Xi and Trump could both be seen laughing at the image, according to footage on social media.
Outside the White House gates, protesters against Chinese oppression could be heard chanting throughout the day of meetings.
The protests carried into the evening, with chants of “Free Hong Kong,” “Xi Jinping, you’re not welcome” and “freedom for political prisoners” at times drowning out the state dinner at the White House, Fox News Digital reported.
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A White House official told Fox News Digital before the visit that Trump would explore a wide-ranging deal on possible tariff reductions on non-strategic goods in the meeting with Xi. That official also said the nation’s leaders would discuss rare-earth exports and possible export controls, and that Trump was expected to press China to do more to curb fentanyl precursor chemical exports.
Trump called the meeting “great,” but didn’t elaborate and didn’t take questions from the press during the day.
China will send two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, to Zoo Atlanta under a conservation agreement, Xi announced. Xi also invited 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years.
Xi departed the White House for several hours after the meeting, but returned for a state dinner that officially began at 8:00 p.m. Trump kicked off the dinner with a toast to peace and prosperity for both nations.
Guests at the dinner included the second family, Cabinet officials and their spouses, and titans of industry in banking and tech.
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, SpaceX founder and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Apple Board of Directors Chairman Tim Cook were all in attendance.
The inclusion of American artificial intelligence leaders was notable, given that the powerful technology was a hotbed summit issue as China and the United States race for AI dominance.