President Trump rolled out the red carpet for President Xi Jinping on Wednesday evening at Joint Base Andrews, joined by the first lady to personally welcome the Chinese president and his wife, Madame Peng Liyuan, to the United States for their high-stakes, three-day visit.
The two leaders are expected to discuss a number of issues, including artificial intelligence safety, Taiwan, trade, the war in Iran and critical minerals.
Trump and his motorcade rolled near the edge of the red carpet then the pomp and circumstance began.
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The president and the first lady held hands and walked to the foot of the stairs in front of Xi’s plane, standing for a few moments before the Chinese leader and Madame Peng descended. Â
The U.S. Air Force band began playing but paused as the leaders mingled at the bottom of the stairs.Â
Xi shook hands with some Chinese officials before the couples walked down the red carpet, lined with U.S. service members. They stood for a photo opportunity at the bottom of the carpet, the Air Force band starting to play again, and cannons went off. The Chinese anthem played first, then Trump saluted during “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Two B1 bombers flew low over the leaders.
The leaders and their spouses exchanged a few more pleasantries before Xi and Madame Peng got into their car and Trump and the first lady walked over his motorcade moments later. Neither Trump nor Xi made remarks.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Speaking to reporters after landing back at the White House, Trump said he would discuss Iran during Xi’s visit.
“We’ll see. We’ll see. I’ll be talking about that and many other subjects. We’ll see, but it’s all coming along well, including that,” Trump said, when asked if he and Xi would address Iran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday evening that the U.S. and China reached an agreement to extend their trade truce until Jan. 10.Â
“We have agreed today that we will extend what we call the Busan Agreement. The detente —Â economic detente between the two countries that was scheduled to end on Nov. 10, that is going to be extended until Jan. 10, to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front,” Bessent told Fox News.
Asked if he thinks the Chinese are seeking a bigger deal now that there’s more time to hash out specifics, Bessent said he didn’t know if that was possible.Â
“I don’t know whether a bigger deal can be done. I don’t know whether we will just roll the current deal,” he told Fox. “There are some deliverables that have not been perfect on the Chinese side so we also want to see — now that we’ve sat down and told them our expectations, to see if over the coming months, they could be a bit more fulsome in enacting the agreement.”
President Donald Trump walks on a red carpet after greeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) during an arrival ceremony, Sept. 23, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md.
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The airport greeting was unusual for Trump and reflects the pomp and circumstance surrounding the visit as Trump traditionally greets foreign leaders at the White House.
He’ll do that on Thursday when he and first lady Melania Trump welcome Xi and his wife at a ceremony on the State Floor of the White House. Trump and Xi will also participate in a review of troops in the Rose Garden before they head into formal, private talks.
Following that, Xi and his wife will be the guests of honor when Trump and the first lady host the Chinese delegation for a state dinner in the East Room, where both leaders are expected to deliver remarks.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan upon their arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sept. 23, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Guests scheduled to attend the state dinner include tech executives like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies, the White House and a source familiar told ABC News.
Also on the guest list are Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, and Tim Cook, who recently stepped down as the CEO of Apple.
On Friday, Xi and his wife are scheduled to join Trump and the first lady for a private tea and a tour of the National Archives to view historical national documents. Xi is expected to depart the U.S. later Friday.
Xi’s last state visit to the U.S. was in September 2015 during the Obama administration. Trump visited China last May for talks with Xi.
ABC News’ Emily Chang contributed to this report.
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