The first talks of the Chinese president at the White House with the US leader will be overshadowed by warnings of an artificial intelligence (AI) apocalypse, as both countries compete for supremacy in this technology field.
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Trump’s war with Iran also casts a dark shadow. China seeks to avoid US sanctions on countries cooperating with Tehran, but there have been reports that Beijing passed intelligence to Tehran for a strike against US troops.
The trade war raises even greater concern. The world’s two largest economies are still trying to mitigate the effects of global tariffs imposed by Trump.
There is also the looming threat of war over Taiwan.
Underlying all this is the desire to manage tension between a superpower seeking to maintain its top position and a rapidly rising rival determined to make the 21st century the Chinese century.
“I will discuss almost everything with him,” Trump told journalists on the presidential plane on Sunday, speaking about the upcoming September 24 meeting.
“Don’t expect much”
However, experts say both leaders are most likely to only extend relative truces rather than achieve concrete results, as was the case when Xi Jinping hosted Trump in Beijing four months ago.
“I don’t expect any big outcome from this,” Jonathan Chin from the Brookings Institution think tank told AFP.
“In many ways, it will be a repeat of Trump’s May visit to Beijing, where the main focus was on the supposed personal rapport between the two leaders,” he said.
With fears about artificial intelligence flashing in global media headlines, an agreement to cooperate on regulation or slowing development is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion between Trump and Xi Jinping.
However, any major agreements “are currently politically unattainable,” as both Beijing and Washington fear losing the race for dominance in AI, said Wang Dong, a professor at Peking University.
Tensions over Iran will also be discussed. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to meet with Chinese representative He Lifeng this weekend for talks ahead of the summit, including discussions on sanctions against Iran.
However, Trump downplayed reports that Chinese entities passed satellite images to Iran used in an attack on a US military base in Jordan, saying Xi Jinping “has behaved quite well” and that “we also spy on them.”
Regarding trade, there is “room for progress on tariffs, agricultural purchases, and selected export controls,” Yue Su, chief economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told AFP.
The son of imprisoned Hong Kong pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai appealed to President Xi Jinping from Washington, asking for the release of his 78-year-old father.
In May, Trump said he discussed Lai’s fate with Xi Jinping, but his release is unlikely.
Still, Beijing released Ezra Jin, founder of an underground church, after Trump mentioned him during talks with Xi Jinping.
“A spectacle”
However, Trump, as often before, seems more interested in the image of his meeting with a powerful foreign leader than the content.
“It’s less a summit and more a spectacle. It’s meant for broad public consumption,” said Kurt Campbell, former US deputy secretary of state and current chairman of the business consulting firm The Asia Group.
Trump demanded that the new granite helicopter landing pad on the White House South Lawn be opened before Xi Jinping’s visit.
Additionally, the US president will give the Chinese leader special honor by personally greeting him at the airport, a US official confirmed to AFP.
The US president will attend Xi Jinping’s welcoming ceremony at Joint Base Andrews; the Chinese leader is expected to arrive there next Wednesday around 4 p.m. (11 p.m. Lithuanian time), said an official who wished to remain anonymous.
A formal state dinner will also take place during the visit.
This week, soldiers in ceremonial uniforms rehearsed near the White House ahead of the welcoming ceremony.
Trump’s only disappointment is that his $400 million (346.7 million euros) banquet hall under construction will not be ready, although he said it will surpass Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where Xi Jinping hosted him in May.
During his trip to Beijing, Trump showered praise on Xi Jinping, but the Chinese leader soon warned of a possible conflict over Taiwan.
According to Peking University professor Wang Dong, fears of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan—a self-governing island and global semiconductor hub that Beijing considers its territory—remain the most sensitive issue between Washington and Beijing.
One possible concrete outcome of the meeting is an announcement of further high-level meetings.
Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to meet in November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shenzhen, China. The Kremlin has proposed a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Trump is expected to invite Xi Jinping to the G20 summit in December at his Doral resort in Miami.
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