Xi arrives in U.S. for three-day state visit; Trump breaks 64-year protocol with airport welcome

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday afternoon for a three-day state visit to the United States, receiving an unusually ceremonial greeting from President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the airport tarmac. The planeside welcome marked the first time a sitting U.S. president has personally greeted a foreign leader at an airport since 1962, when President John F. Kennedy welcomed British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Xi was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, and a delegation that included Politburo Standing Committee member Cai Qi, Vice Premier He Lifeng, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The airport ceremony included extensive protocol: honor guards lined the red carpet, the U.S. Air Force band played both national anthems, and a 21-gun salute followed. Two American children presented flowers to Xi and Peng. A U.S. B-1 Lancer bomber conducted a military flyover as the leaders shook hands and spoke briefly at the base of the aircraft stairs. The entire ceremony lasted more than ten minutes. In a written statement, Xi stated that China and the United States "should be partners, not rivals" and called for a relationship featuring "cooperation as the mainstay, moderate competition, manageable differences, and promises of peace." He emphasized that the two countries should work toward building a "constructive relationship of strategic stability," referencing an accord reached during Trump's state visit to China in May.

The visit reciprocates Trump's May 2026 trip to Beijing and marks Xi's first state visit to Washington since 2015—his most recent U.S. visit was in November 2023 for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. Scheduled talks on Thursday are expected to cover multiple contentious issues: trade, with a one-year trade truce set to expire November 10; artificial intelligence safety, following formal agreement by both nations to establish bilateral dialogue frameworks; Taiwan, which Beijing views as a core interest; North Korea's nuclear program; and U.S. arms sales to the self-ruled island. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already announced the extension of the trade truce through January, with potential reciprocal tariff reductions on approximately $30 billion in goods from each side in non-strategic sectors.

The airport welcome has drawn mixed reactions domestically. Some U.S. analysts and officials questioned the signal sent by the unprecedented ceremony, given recently reported tensions: the U.S. has accused China of election interference in 2020, and multiple officials have stated that Chinese entities provided satellite imagery and surveillance capabilities to Iran, which Iranian forces used to conduct regional attacks. Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Xi a "brutal, unelected tyrant" and urged Trump to press Xi on China's military expansion and Iran support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio countered that high-level engagement is necessary given China's role as a major global power.

According to Chinese scholars, Trump's decision to break protocol reflects multiple considerations: emphasis on the bilateral relationship, domestic political calculation ahead of midterm elections, and possible compensation for an incomplete White House East Wing banquet hall project. Melania Trump told Fox News that her husband decided to personally welcome Xi "because they have great relations." Columbia University scholar Julian Gewirtz noted the unusual deference, stating that Beijing "almost certainly cannot have hoped for a more accommodating host," while former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns warned that appearing to prioritize the Xi relationship over traditional alliances could send problematic signals to U.S. partners.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent in New York on Sunday, where the two discussed the formalized AI dialogue framework and agreed that U.S. and Chinese officials should meet in approximately two months in Shenzhen. The bilateral relationship is expected to influence international dynamics through multiple scheduled forums: the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November and the Group of 20 leaders' meeting in Miami in December.