Trump to greet Xi at airport as Chinese leader arrives for US state visit

The first state visit by the leader of China in more than a decade takes place next week when President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for highstakes talks and a little schmoozing at the White House with President Donald TrumpWhen Xis plan lands at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Wednesday Trump will be there to welcome Xi for the state visit senior administration officials told reporters Thats unusual Trump typically meets foreign leaders at the White HouseThe heart of the visit comes Thursday when Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcome Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at an arrival ceremony held indoors 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 retreat behind closed doors for their talksThe first lady and Peng Liyuan will hold a separate engagement while their spouses get down to business Details were not released during a call the officials held Friday to brief reporters on Xis visitXi and his wife will also be the guests of honor Thursday as Trump and the first lady host the Chinese delegation for a state dinner in the East Room Trump described the dinner as an event everyone wants to attend Both leaders will deliver remarksThousands of people would love to be at that dinner Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office He appeared to lament that the 1000person ballroom he is adding onto the White House will not be available for the soiree because it is still under construction This is a very tough ticket for meIve told a lot of very good friends of mine you just cant come Trump saidWhite House shares some names on the state dinner guest listBut some of the Republican presidents tech industry friends have been invitedAmong the executives scheduled to attend the state dinner are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Tesla and SpaceXs Elon Musk Sundar Pichai of Google and Michael Dell the CEO of Dell Technologies the White House saidAlso on the guest list are Nvidias Jensen Huang OpenAIs Sam Altman Jane Fraser the CEO of Citigroup and Tim Cook who recently stepped down as the CEO of AppleNext Friday Xi and Peng Liyuan are scheduled to return to the White House for a private tea with the Trumps who will then take them on a tour of the National Archives the home of some of the United States most important founding documents as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversaryXi will head for Joint Base Andrews after the tourTariffs artificial intelligence rare earths on the agendaAs for other substantive parts of the visit US officials said Washington and Beijing may be ready to ease some tariffs on some nonstrategic goodsDiscussing the visit during a call with reporters senior US officials said such a move might affect a narrow band of goods that would advantage both sides The officials who spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House did not elaborateBut they said they did not expect the United States would be ready to ease export controls to allow for a greater flow of rare earth minerals critical components in a wide range of products into the global marketThe officials said China maintaining an acceptable flow of such minerals would be discussed but there was unlikely to be an exchange involving reduced US export controlsSeparately Treasury Secretary Bessent will meet over the weekend in New York with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss a range of economic issues according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publiclyArtificial intelligence will be a focus of the talks the person saidIn Beijing Chinas commerce ministry announced that He would lead a delegation to the US from Saturday to Wednesday for economic and trade consultationsAlso on the agenda will be Chinas stockpiles of rare earth minerals essential to everything from smartphones to fighter jets Beijing has used its nearmonopoly on the minerals to bring the United States to the negotiating table in a trade war started by Trumps tariffs and other sanctions on China The talks might continue at the working level into Monday the person saidUS Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will join Bessent on Sunday for the meeting with He Greers office announced Friday eveningTrump visited China in May as well as in his first term for talks with Xi who rolled out the red carpet for his American counterpartXi was last in the United States for a state visit in September 2015 during the administration of Democrat Barack ObamaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever