WASHINGTON/NEW YORK/TOKYO -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump are holding their second summit of the year, amid lingering tensions over tariffs, rare earth materials, artificial intelligence and other issues.
After Trump traveled to Beijing in May, the venue this time is Washington. The White House is putting on an elaborate show of welcoming the Chinese leader, including a state dinner. At the outset, upon Xi's arrival, the U.S. said the two sides agreed to extend their trade truce, which had been due to expire Nov. 10.
But expectations for broader tangible results were modest, after their earlier meeting produced what many experts saw as symbolism over substance. Any discussions of Taiwan, which China claims, will be closely watched, as Trump has described arms sales to the island democracy as a "very good negotiating chip."
Further reading:
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US, China debate 'nonsensitive' tariff cuts ahead of Trump-Xi summit
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Here are the latest developments (Washington time):
Thursday, Sept. 24
10:45 a.m. In welcoming remarks delivered after the playing of the U.S. and Chinese national anthems, Trump says the two sides have made "tremendous strides" and will be discussing security, technology and "super intelligence," his term for AI. He adds that both countries are working to balance trade, including "new market access" for American farmers.
Invoking historic ties between China and the U.S., including their alliance during WWII, the U.S. president says they will focus on "common interests."
Xi, speaking at the White House for the first time since 2015, stresses the importance of partnership between the world’s two largest economies, as well as the need for mutual respect and trust, while strengthening cooperation and communication.
"Without our cooperation between the U.S. and China, it'd be hard to solve many of the world's problems," he says.
10:30 a.m. Demonstrators are peacefully marching from the Chinese Embassy toward Capitol Hill in protest against Beijing's cultural repression in Tibet. In July, Tibetan activist Lobsang Palden self-immolated in front of the United Nations building and died from severe burns. The incident happened a week after an "ethnic unity" law came into effect in China. The legislation promotes integration across the country's 55 ethnic groups through various policies, but critics see it as an instrument to further repress minorities.
This week, a Tibet independence march was held in front of the U.N. headquarters in New York. Fifteen other Tibetan demonstrators have marched from New York through Philadelphia and toward Washington to honor Palden.
Chinese authorities have imposed policies of forced assimilation in Tibet, restricting the use of the Tibetan language and subjecting individuals to arbitrary detention. Rights activists say the Chinese Communist Party is systematically separating Tibetan children from their families to erase Tibetan identity, but the Chinese government has denied accusations of cultural repression.
10:15 a.m. The U.S. president and first lady welcome Xi and his wife to the White House.
9:12 a.m. World financial markets remained on edge on Thursday after concerns about the Iran war and inflation pain had triggered the sharpest sell-off in U.S. Treasurys and other benchmark government bonds since last year's "Liberation Day" turmoil, Reuters reported.
Bond yields were nudging higher again as U.S. trading began after oil prices had moved back above $105 a barrel and as traders waited on what could be a tense meeting between Trump and Xi in Washington later.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield -- the benchmark of the $29 trillion Treasury market that anchors pricing for virtually all financial assets globally --touched a new post-financial-crisis high of 5.12%, while the 30-year yield climbed to 5.44%, its highest since 2004.
8:00 a.m. Trump starts the day off with a Truth Social post, suggesting he will discuss AI with Xi.
"A big day with President Xi of China. Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China's position also," he writes.
"Our guardrail is the DOJ!" Trump adds, referring to the Department of Justice but not elaborating on what he means.
6:35 a.m. While the U.S. and Chinese leaders meet in Washington, trade tensions over what many consider China's industrial overcapacity are simmering elsewhere. The head of Germany's auto industry association, VDA, has explicitly endorsed new tariffs on China for the first time, Reuters reports, citing German media. Hildegard Mueller told newspaper Handelsblatt that trade countermeasures could be adopted when competition has been distorted beyond a certain extent, including cases of "proven unfair behavior."
While China's trade with the U.S. has declined, it has stepped up exports to Europe and Southeast Asia, and Germany's leaders have been raising alarm. Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently said China "deliberately" combines market forces with state subsidies, overcapacity, aggressive pricing and an undervalued currency.
European companies in China this week urged Beijing to address such concerns ahead of crucial talks with the bloc next month.
4:50 a.m. According to the schedule shared by the U.S., Trump will welcome Xi and his wife to the White House at 10 a.m. Shortly afterward, the leaders will observe an arrival ceremony, before delivering brief remarks, exchanging gifts and participating in military reviews.
At 11:30 a.m., with the pageantry out of the way, Trump and Xi will start a closed bilateral meeting in the Oval Office. Only half an hour is reserved for this, before they shift to an expanded meeting in the Cabinet Room at noon.
At 2 p.m., Trump is due to turn to his own briefings and meetings, until the leaders reconvene at 6:45 p.m. They are to deliver further remarks before tucking into a state dinner with business leaders.
3:45 a.m. China's Ministry of Defense calls for maintaining "stable and sound" relations with the U.S. military, while urging Washington to be "extremely cautious" about arms sales to Taiwan.
2:00 a.m. Major U.S. media outlets avoided broadcasting Trump's grand welcome for Xi, according to reports, as his administration feuds with the press. Trump recently sought to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from reporting from the White House, accusing them of reporting "lies." Fox News, which is generally friendly to Trump, also refrained from showing Wednesday's ceremony. A federal judge subsequently ordered Trump to restore White House access for journalists from the three affected outlets, saying the ban was likely unconstitutional, Reuters reported.
1:30 a.m. Taiwan's cabinet spokesperson, Michelle Lee, says Taipei expresses its "gratitude" for long-standing U.S. support.
"Regarding all efforts conducive to stabilizing the regional situation and managing the risks that authoritarian expansion might bring, we view them positively and continue to cooperate with the U.S. at various levels," she says, regarding the Trump-Xi meeting, according to Reuters.
"In fact, we continue to maintain close contact with the U.S. to stay informed of relevant developments."
12:35 a.m. Minoru Kihara, Japan's chief cabinet secretary and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's top aide, tells reporters in Tokyo that he will "continue to monitor the situation" at the Trump-Xi summit "closely with keen interest," amid Japan's own tensions with Beijing.
He stresses the significance of talks between Takaichi and Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week. "With the upcoming U.S.-China summit in mind, they exchanged views on various issues concerning China including economic security, and agreed to continue to closely cooperate," he said.
Wednesday, Sept. 23
11:45 p.m. The European Chamber of Commerce in China applauds the extension of the trade truce between Washington and Beijing, saying that without it, "the implementation of the planned export controls on rare earths would have a crippling impact on industry."
However, it raises several concerns, including uncertainty over what will happen after the new expiry date of Jan. 10.
"The extension does not address underlying challenges companies experience when it comes to applying for both single and general export licenses" for rare earths, it adds. The chamber flags "a lack of coordination" between Chinese commerce and customs authorities, inconsistent disclosure requirements and "a lack of clarity as to why some applications are unsuccessful."
11:00 p.m. As the U.S. was preparing to welcome Xi, Chinese human rights activist Shi Tingfu died in prison in the country's northwestern region of Xinjiang on Tuesday, according to the Chinese-language website Rights Defense Network (RDN).
Shi, an outspoken advocate of freedom and democracy from Nanjing who supported the 1989 Tiananmen protests, was detained by Xinjiang police in January 2024 and later sentenced to three years in jail for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." He was expected to be released in about four months.
The death of the 67-year-old activist underscores questions over whether Trump will press Xi on human rights issues in their meeting on Thursday, beyond raising the cases of two Americans held by Beijing.
Shi's conviction was due to passing information to overseas media about fruit farmers in the western Xinjiang city of Aral, or Alar, lodging grievances against Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a state-run paramilitary organization and corporate conglomerate.
The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders said it could not definitively confirm that his death resulted from inadequate medical care. He suffered from multiple health conditions, including high blood pressure, pneumonia and asthma.
But according to RDN, his family said he had appeared to be in good condition and did not mention feeling unwell during a visit not long ago, "raising concerns about the circumstances of his sudden death."
On another front, the Tibet Action Institute reports that China has been enforcing a "complete information blackout across Tibet" following catastrophic landslides and floods at the border with Nepal last month.
"Xi Jinping's regime tried to make Tibet invisible after the devastating border floods," said Tenzin Dorjee, the institute's research and advocacy director, by "blocking journalists, silencing victims, and censoring the internet -- all to mask the truth of its occupation and colonization of Tibet." She called on Trump to press Xi to allow access and end the "relentless repression" of Tibetans.
10:30 p.m. The White House has posted a short video clip of Trump's welcome for Xi.
10:00 p.m. Days ahead of his U.S. visit, Xi wrote back to nearly 100 students from 10 U.S. universities who had been in China for an exchange program, according to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency. He urged them to foster bilateral ties.
Yet, even as leaders trade diplomatic overtures, academic and people-to-people exchanges between the two superpowers remain severely chilled after years of deepening political mistrust. The pipeline for American scholars going to China has nearly dried up. And the number of U.S. students studying in China has dropped sharply from roughly 11,000 in 2019 to fewer than 2,000, with most concentrated in short-term undergraduate programs, according to the U.S.-China Education Trust.
At the same time, Chinese students are increasingly shunning American universities amid tighter visa restrictions and heightened immigration scrutiny. The number of Chinese students on American campuses fell from a peak of more than 370,000 in the 2019-2020 academic year to nearly 266,000 by 2024-2025.
8:30 p.m. According to a list shared with media, the welcome ceremony for Xi featured: a 100-foot red carpet; a salute battery; a 21-person honor cordon; a pair of three-person color teams with the U.S. and Chinese flags; a U.S. Air Force band playing fanfare and the countries' national anthems; 3x5 platoons from each service; two B1 flyovers; and flower presenters.
6:20 p.m. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that he and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng agreed to extend a trade truce through Jan. 10, two months beyond its Nov. 10 expiration date.
5:41 p.m. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington to a rare tarmac welcome from President Donald Trump, who breaks with convention by greeting his counterpart planeside.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump are to take part in an arrival ceremony for Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, kicking off a three-day state visit.
4:30 p.m. Before President Donald Trump's tariffs, China bought about half of U.S. soybean exports. Since then, shipments have fallen sharply, from nearly $18 billion in 2022 to $3 billion in 2025, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
The decline has helped Brazil and Argentina gain market share. Brazil exported a record 108.7 million metric tons of soybeans in 2025, up 11.7% from a year earlier, with about 80% headed to China, according to the National Association of Cereal Exporters.
"No one can replace the Chinese market," Dave Walton, vice president of the American Soybean Association and an Iowa farmer, tells the Associated Press. Walton says he hopes U.S. tariffs are removed, adding: "We think of Xi as a friend to American agriculture."
3:30 p.m. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. and China have a responsibility to engage at the highest levels, calling regular contact between the world's two largest economies "responsible statecraft."
"The idea that we would not interact with them at the highest levels is irresponsible. It's outrageous. We have to," Rubio tells reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, according to the Associated Press.
His comments come hours before President Donald Trump is set to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews in a rare tarmac ceremony.
2:00 p.m. Security in Washington is being beefed up as Chinese diaspora groups plan welcome events and activist groups prepare demonstrations in conjunction with tomorrow's summit.
Road closures around the White House are already in place. The U.S. Secret Service, which is leading security for Xi's visit, says it is committed to ensuring the safety of foreign heads of state who are in the U.S.
Chinese, Hong Kong, Tibetan and Uyghur activists say they expect several thousand people to protest on Thursday.
"We're all protesting for a simple reason ... because our people who used to say these things, who used to organize these demonstrations back at home, are now locked up behind bars in prisons, in concentration camps and are stripped away from their political freedom and rights," says Joey Siu, a Hong Kong human rights activist.
Activist groups clashed with Chinese government supporters when Xi visited San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2023.
The Secret Service says it is prepared to manage any demonstrations to ensure that freedom of assembly and speech are expressed "safely."
"If individuals or groups decide to act unlawfully, plans have been put in place to address them efficiently and safely," the Secret Service says in a statement.
1:05 p.m. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he has held "substantive discussions" with China's He Lifeng on the bilateral economic relationship ahead of Trump's summit with Xi.
11:30 a.m. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng again hours before Xi is set to arrive in Washington.
"We have some unfinished business from Sunday," Bessent tells reporters here when asked what prompted this meeting, his second talk with He this week.
"We want strategic stability, but it has to be based in reciprocity and fairness," Bessent also says.
During closed-door negotiations Sunday at JPMorgan headquarters in Manhattan, the two sides agreed to carve out "nonsensitive" goods from future tariff actions.
7:40 a.m. There are signs of a generational shift among Americans in how they look at their country's biggest competitor. Younger and Democratic-leaning Americans, in particular, are warming up to the idea of building closer ties with China rather than decoupling, studies show.
A survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released this week found 57% of American respondents favored engaging with China, the highest level since 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The same poll found that Americans themselves perceive global respect for the U.S. to have declined over the last 10 years, while most respondents said respect for China was either about the same or had increased.
According to the Ronald Reagan Institute Summer Survey, 93% of Americans aged 65 and above expressed concern about Chinese espionage, compared with just 62% of those aged 18 to 29. The younger set was also less likely to worry about a potential military conflict over Taiwan, Chinese purchases of U.S. land and China's role in fentanyl flows.
Data on how Chinese citizens view America is far less accessible, though recent downtrends in Chinese visiting and studying in the U.S. indicate caution along with the effects of rising visa restrictions and tighter immigration rules.
7:00 a.m. Xi is heading stateside at a time when China's global image has improved, at least in relation to the U.S.
A report by Gallup published in April shows that China surpassed the U.S. in global approval ratings in 2025. A median 36% approved of Chinese leadership versus 31% for the U.S. -- the widest gap in China's favor in nearly 20 years.
This appears to reflect not only Xi's efforts to portray Beijing as a responsible power but also deteriorating views of America in Trump's second term. "Overall, China's move ahead of the U.S. more broadly reflects a decline in U.S. ratings rather than an increase in China's ratings," the report says.
A more recent survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted across 37 economies, found that a median of 51% of respondents had a favorable view of China. Feelings toward the country were warmest in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, where China has deepened its trade ties in recent years.
Confidence in both Trump and Xi was generally low, according to Pew, though people from 22 countries viewed Xi more favorably of the two. Respondents in only eight countries, including Japan and Israel, expressed significantly greater confidence in Trump than Xi.
Still, the Pew survey found the U.S. government ranks higher than Beijing in terms of respect for personal freedom.
6:30 a.m. This will be Xi's first official state visit to the U.S. since 2015, and his first time setting foot on American soil since the APEC forum in 2023. Much has changed for both countries over the past decade -- key context for how the two administrations may approach relations.
In the U.S., a booming stock market fueled by artificial intelligence-related investments has supercharged wealth among high-income households. But middle- to low-income families face higher costs of living, exacerbated by elevated energy bills due to Trump's war against Iran.
The 20% richest Americans now account for 60% of personal spending, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.
Polls suggest that the affordability problem has eroded Trump's popularity. One released this week by Reuters/Ipsos found that only 32% of Americans approved of the president's job performance, the lowest of his career, while just 17% approved of his handling of living costs.
There is no publicly available polling on Xi's performance atop China's Communist Party state. Still, there are signs of brewing discontent due to labor market pains. Youth unemployment hit a record of 18.9% in August, amid widespread adoption of AI.
China has cemented its grip on global manufacturing with a record trade surplus of over $1 trillion, despite Trump's repeated attempts to loosen that hold with tariffs since his first term in 2018. And Chinese companies are making rapid technological advances. Yet the country also faces a two-speed economy: a yearslong property slump has dented family wealth and suppressed retail spending, while overall official growth rates continue to trend downward.
6:10 a.m. Here's the scene at Joint Base Andrews in the wee hours of Wednesday, ahead of Trump's welcome for Xi.
6:00 a.m. At a forum in Sydney earlier, experts in Asian and military affairs offered cautionary assessments.
John Aquilino, a retired commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said China is conducting the largest military buildup since World War II. "Their industrial base is in a wartime footing. They are cranking out ships, submarines and airplanes like it's their day job. That is for only one reason, and that is for the PRC to change the current world order in ways that benefit China at the expense of all of us," he said.
Aquilino emphasized a need for the U.S. to work with allies on economic alternatives and deterrence. On the upcoming summit, he said the direction of conversations about Taiwan "absolutely concerns me." Reuters reported this week that Xi is likely to push Trump to halt new arms sales to Taipei.
Kurt Campbell, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state and co-founder of The Asia Group, said at the same event that Xi is trying to "reduce the confidence in Taiwan in the United States" by framing "how to think about Taiwan and resisting arms sales."
Lai I-Chung, president of the Prospect Foundation think tank, said Taiwan will be watching the summit "very closely" but stressed that the island democracy's fate will "not be determined by the negotiation between those two powers."
5:45 a.m. Tesla CEO Elon Musk says Xi is a "great leader" in an interview aired by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. The billionaire, who is reportedly due to join Thursday's state dinner with the two presidents in Washington, says China has "prospered immensely" during Xi's time in power.
Musk has repeatedly praised China in recent weeks, while denying rumors that he is looking to break off Tesla's operations there.
5:15 a.m. A commentary in the Communist Party's People's Daily presents a broadly upbeat view of the summit. "The China-U.S. relationship is the most important and complex bilateral relationship in the world, and head-of-state diplomacy serves as the 'guiding star' of this relationship," it reads. It repeatedly emphasizes "constructive strategic stability," a framing of the superpower relationship that emerged at the May summit.
In a separate piece in the People's Daily, China's ambassador to the U.S., Xie Feng, lays out boundaries. "China's sovereignty, security, and development interests cannot be violated, and four red lines -- the Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, development paths and systems, and development rights -- cannot be challenged."
5:05 a.m. Xi is en route for Washington, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reports. The announcement says he is accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, along with top aide Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, "among others."
He is scheduled to land in the early evening at Joint Base Andrews, where he is due to be greeted by Trump himself -- a rare diplomatic courtesy.
In a note, Oxford Economics says that the trip is "a sign the U.S.-China relationship is becoming more predictable." Yet, the advisory firm says both sides are "buying time."
"China wants to preserve export access while reducing external technology dependence. The U.S. wants to limit near-term supply-chain disruption and build manufacturing capacity at home. Economic interdependence is difficult to unwind, and both sides need time to build credible substitutes."
The analysts predict "narrow" and "reversible" outcomes, including limited tariff relief, a potential expansion of commitments to purchase farm goods and aircraft, and pledges to cooperate on issues like AI safety and Iran. "That would leave the thornier issues around tech rivalry, transshipments and Taiwan unresolved."