China’s president Xi Jinping was wrapping up his much-anticipated state visit to the United States on Friday, with details of his talks with US president Donald Trump still to emerge on the thorny issues that define what Xi called as the “healthy competition” between the two global powers.
– The two leaders met behind closed doors for 90 minutes on Thursday, when they discussed issues such as the Middle East, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, according to the official Chinese government readout of the meeting. The White House has not provided any information about the private talks, or if there were any major breakthroughs on issues such as trade or the safety of artificial intelligence which the two leaders identified as key points of their talks.
– The US and Chinese presidents chose to show that they were working to preserve harmony between the world’s two largest economies.
– In a visit full of pomp, Trump took Xi to visit the National Archives on Friday where the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are held. Trump said Thursday that he wanted to show Xi “some of the greatest treasures of that proud history.”
– The US president also said he wanted to show Xi artifacts about the relationship between the two countries, saying that “just as our ancestors reached across the ocean centuries ago to trade, to learn, and to build a better world, our two countries do really the same thing, and we’re very proud of it.”
– On Thursday evening, the US president and the First Lady feted China’s leader and his wife, Peng Liyuan, with a black-tie state dinner attended by technology industry titans and top business leaders from the US, but less from China.
– “President Xi and I both understand we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure, and we’ve never gotten along better,” Trump said during his toast, adding that “together, we can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations.”
– In his toast, Xi said that “President Trump has pledged to make America great again” and that “China is committed to achieving great national rejuvenation.”
– Those in attendance included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Dell Technologies chairman and CEO Michael Dell, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
– Bernard Arnault, the CEO of French luxury goods company LVMH, was also invited to the state dinner.
– The president presented Xi with an eagle statue that he said was designed “in personal collaboration with Melania and myself.”
– The first lady helped craft the evening’s menu featuring sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy, roasted garden eggplant as main course.
Trump said "our farmers are going to be happy" as a result of the talks but did not provide details.
"America is very happy about this visit, and I'm sure China is very happy also," he said.
Xi said the US-China relationship had developed into a constructive one of "strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness and reciprocity."
Trump highlighted progress under a bilateral trade mechanism, citing what he described as increased market access for US farmers and ranchers, while both leaders identified AI as an area for dialogue.
"In some ways, the best thing that we accomplished in this visit is to continue the conversation," US Ambassador to China David Perdue told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program on Friday.
Asked about Iran, Trump said he and Xi had discussed it and that "I think we're going to do great," without elaborating. Beijing has denied US allegations of helping Iran's leaders in the conflict launched by Trump in February.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday that Xi had urged the US and Iran to return to negotiations to end the war, but Xi has not publicly commented on Chinese support for Iran.
Xi pressed Trump on Taiwan on Thursday, saying he hoped the US would "handle the Taiwan question with prudence." China's state news agency also reported that Xi "hopes the US side will adhere to the correct position of opposing 'Taiwan independence'."
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-wrap-up-xi-summit-with-tour-us-archives-2026-09-25