Trump to meet Xi Jinping at the White House amid trade tensions

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to host his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the White House on Thursday, amid expectations that trade tensions between the two countries will top the agenda.

A formal dinner is set for Thursday evening, during which both Xi and Trump are expected to deliver remarks.

A number of senior executives from major US technology companies are also expected to attend, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, according to a senior government official.

The presence of these tech leaders suggests that competition between the world’s two largest economies in the field of artificial intelligence may be a key topic during the state visit.

Xi arrived in Washington on Wednesday evening and is expected to remain in the United States until Friday.

This marks the first visit by the Chinese president to the United States since 2023, when he traveled to California to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and met with Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden.

Trump had invited Xi to the White House during his own visit to Beijing in mid-May.