Newsman: President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, where Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were the guests of honor as Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted the Chinese delegation in the East Room.
President Trump hosted a formal state dinner and welcome banquet for Chinese President Xi Jinping during Xi’s official state visit to the United States.
Trump raised a glass to honor Xi, Madam Peng, and the long-standing relationship between the U.S. and China. He noted that while the two nations represent different systems, their ties endure.
During the toast President Trump stated, “I’d like to raise a glass and propose a toast to President Xi, Madam Peng, and the long relationship between China and America that has bridged thousands of miles and spanned hundreds of years, and may all of our people know a future of harmony, peace, and success.”
Mr. Trump called Xi and his wife “truly outstanding, amazing people,” and said the U.S. and China should “continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security.” During the dinner attended by scores of business and tech titans, Xi said he would like to forge a relationship defined by “strategic stability” and called for the two sides to “act as responsible major countries.”
Mr. Trump said he had a “great meeting” with Xi but did not answer questions on the substance of the talks. During the state dinner, Xi said they “reached common understanding on many issues.”
In remarks at Thursday’s state dinner, President Trump called for the U.S. and China to “continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations.”
Mr. Trump, who has long touted his warm personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, called Xi and his wife “truly outstanding, amazing people.”
“As the leaders of our two nations, President Xi and I both understand that we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure,” Mr. Trump said. “And we’ve never gotten along better.”
Mr. Trump traced the history of U.S.-China relations back to the European explorers who arrived at the American continent while scouring the Atlantic Ocean for new routes to China. He also pointed to early U.S. commercial ties with China, saying the two countries have exchanged “goods, knowledge, customs and ideas.”
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are wrapping up Xi’s visit to the White House .For the last stop of the Chinese leader’s state visit, Xi, his wife and the Trumps toured the National Archives briefly on Friday afternoon.
National Archivist Bradford Wilson showed the leaders and their wives the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Journalists were too far away to hear their conversation, but Mr. Trump did speak briefly to the press.
Asked about his meeting with Xi, the U.S. president said “everything” was accomplished during their meeting, although he didn’t elaborate.
Trump says “America is very happy” about Xi’s visit, calling it “very, very productive”
During a tea at the White House, Xi thanked the Trumps for the visit.
Through a translator, Xi said everything on their visit was “done to the highest order of perfection” with “thought in every little detail.” Xi also said through a translator that he and Mr. Trump “are like two people who are charting the course for the great ship of China-U.S. relations.” Xi said they’re adding “new substance” to that strategic relationship.
President Xi said the two leaders were likely to see each other later this year at the APEC China summit in Shenzhen, and then again at the G20 summit of leaders in the U.S. The G20 is expected to take place at one of Mr. Trump’s properties in Miami. Xi welcomed Mr. Trump for a state visit to Beijing in May.
Mr. Trump said he and Xi would be “speaking a lot,” adding, “I think our farmers are going to be very happy. A lot of very positive things happened. But America is very happy about this visit and I’m sure China is very happy also. Great things for both countries. And it’s been just very, very productive.”
The television pool reporter in the room asked Mr. Trump if he asked China to stop sharing intelligence with Iran, but he ignored the question.
U.S. ambassador to China says Trump conveyed to Xi that helping Iran is unacceptable
David Perdue, the U.S. ambassador to China, told Fox News on Friday that Mr. Trump told Xi it’s “unacceptable” for China to be helping Iran in any way with the war. Perdue acknowledged that China has been involved in some assistance that went to Iran directly or indirectly. He also said China has expressed a commitment to not help Iran.
The White House has said little about what has been achieved during the visit on Thursday and Friday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese entities provided satellite images of a base in Jordan to Iran ahead of deadly Iranian strikes that killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded others.
“This has been a continual conversation over some period of time,” Perdue told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer. “President Xi responded as you might expect. They talked about the U.S. interests. President Trump did a great job making sure that China knows that this is unacceptable. We’ve seen some movement over the last month as well, but this isn’t the first time President Trump has brought it up with President Xi.”
Hemmer asked Perdue if that means that China would stop assisting Iran. Perdue said the U.S. has seen “movement” in that direction.
“That’s what the commitment is,” Perdue responded. “They assured us yesterday they are not doing that. We know that in the past that there was some intel and some potential parts that went to either directly or indirectly. But President Trump again made it very clear, this is unacceptable to us, to have any interaction with Iran with regards to the support of this war.”
During his remarks, the president Trump joked that he “had to” go off script and make a brief aside about the construction of the White House ballroom, and promised that the guests will “be the first people to step foot” on the site in honor of the visit.
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.
The state dinner came after the two leaders met for about 90 minutes behind closed doors earlier Thursday. The two leaders were expected to discuss a number of issues, including artificial intelligence safety, Taiwan, trade, the Iran war and critical minerals during their bilateral meeting.
Earlier Thursday, Trump greeted Xi at the White House in a ceremony that included a military review in the Rose Garden and a flyover.
Ahead of the private meeting between the two geopolitical rivals, Trump touted the “truly great friendship” between the two leaders, while Xi delivered pointed remarks on trade and AI.
“From the time of my first election in 2016, President Xi and I have forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually, built on mutual respect and the vital interests of our people,” Trump said from a podium in the Grand Foyer of the White House.
Trump commented on the historic nature of Thursday’s state visit, as Xi has not visited the White House in more than a decade. Xi last visited the White House in a 2015 state visit during the Obama administration.
Xi says he and Trump “reached common understanding on many issues”
Chinese President Xi Jinping said during remarks at the White House state dinner, he and President Trump had “sincere and in-depth exchanges” earlier in the day, and “reached common understanding on many issues.”
“This has added new substance to the constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability,” Xi said through a translator.Xi did not specify what the two leaders discussed or whether they struck any new agreements.
Xi briefly recounted the history of U.S.-China ties. He pointed to President George Washington’s purchase of Chinese porcelain, the two countries’ cooperation during World War II and President Richard Nixon’s moves to normalize relations with the People’s Republic of China.
He said the U.S. and China have come to “another historic juncture,” and argued the two countries’ ambitions “can surely be mutually reinforcing.”
“China and the United States must act as responsible major countries, meet the expectations of our peoples, keep pace with the trend of our times and explore a new approach for major countries to get along with each other,” he said.
Trump gifts Xi a bald eagle sculpture
President Trump gave his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a large bald eagle sculpture at the end of his brief remarks at Thursday’s state dinner.
During a speech recognizing U.S.-China ties, President Trump offered Chinese President Xi Jinping and other guests a “special treat” — a peek at the construction site for the White House ballroom.
“In honor of you, you’ll be the first people to step foot on that,” the president said, suggesting guests could take a look after the evening’s entertainment wraps up.
“I can tell you that tonight, if we had it, we would’ve had way more than a thousand people [at the dinner] with standing room only,” he said.
Musk, Zuckerberg and 3 Supreme Court justices invited to state dinner
The White House released the invite list for Thursday’s state dinner, which includes high-level government officials and several of the world’s wealthiest tech executives.
Among the notable people on the guest list are Vice President JD Vance and several Cabinet-level officials: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Mr. Trump’s children – Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany – also got invites.
The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, is on the list. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and TikTok investor Jeff Yass also got invites.
Other invitees include:
Supreme Court Justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett
House Speaker Mike Johnson
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh
Blackrock’s Larry Fink
Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman
Casino magnate and political megadonor Miriam Adelson
JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon
Fox News’ Bret Baier, Jesse Watters and Laura Ingraham
US-CHINA-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-XI
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump walked out of the White House’s North Portico shortly after 7 p.m. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, then arrived in a car and posed for photos with the Trumps before walking inside.
