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US President Donald Trump will personally greet Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews next Wednesday, a rare airport reception. The ceremony is set to take place around 4:00 p.m. local time on September 23. Trump almost never meets visiting heads of state at the airfield, typically waiting at the White House.
The gesture is a deviation from the tone set during his May visit to Beijing, where Xi did not greet him at the tarmac. Instead, Vice-President Han Zheng led the reception. Airport greetings by a Chinese president are uncommon. The US is pairing this honor with a full state arrival ceremony at the White House. A newly completed granite helicopter pad on the South Lawn has been readied for the visit.
Trump's planned US$400 million ballroom will not be used. The trip is the return half of a May state visit. The core of the summit is scheduled for September 24, with departure on the 25th. Xi is not expected to attend the UN General Assembly that week. The visit aims to finalize the agenda and includes bilateral meetings and a formal state dinner.
Business leaders, including Apple's Tim Cook, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Nvidia's Jensen Huang, are expected to attend. China is assembling its own delegation of business executives, which may provide opportunities for investment deals. Protocol talks between China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio focused on high-level exchanges, preparing for future leader-to-leader contact, and the principles of equality, respect, and mutual benefit.
The call comes as both sides work to finalize their plans for the visit. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York over the weekend to continue private talks on trade, rare earths, Iran-related financial sanctions, and artificial intelligence.
Written by urgent.news from Reuters Business via SCMP's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
