Trump to Personally Meet Xi at Andrews on Sept. 23, a First for His Second Term

Since the White House confirmed the Sept. 24 state dinner guest list on Wednesday, new reporting has filled in how the visit itself will unfold, starting with an unusual personal touch from President Trump.

Trump plans to greet Xi Jinping personally when the Chinese president lands at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, Sept. 23, Politico's Playbook reports. This would be the first time in his second term that Trump has gone to Andrews to greet a foreign leader arriving in the U.S.

An administration official told Politico the gesture is deliberate. "It's all about respect and being seen as an equal to the president or to whatever leader they're meeting with," the official said. "Xi really wants to be seen as an equal to the president, and so it will be a big deal for the Chinese."

A Pointed Contrast With Beijing

The optics cut both ways. When Trump visited Beijing in May, Xi did not personally meet him at the airport. Vice President Han Zheng handled the arrival, while Xi welcomed Trump later with a military honor guard at the Great Hall of the People, according to The Daily Beast.

The Daily Beast's own framing of the Andrews plan was blunt, describing it as Trump finding a "new way to shamelessly suck up to" Xi. Fox News and India Today covered the same underlying fact, sourced to the same Politico reporting, without that characterization, instead calling it a "rare diplomatic gesture." Both descriptions rest on the identical set of facts; the divergence is entirely in tone, not substance.

The Sept. 24 dinner will be only the second state dinner Trump has hosted since returning to office, after one held for Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla, Reuters reported via India Today. A military honor guard has already rehearsed at the White House, captured in video posted by Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson and reported by the South China Morning Post. Trump told Fox News he found the Chinese military's marching "incredible."

AI: Bessent Talks 'Shared Risks' While Trump Calls Safety Fears a 'Hoax'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York this weekend, with working-level talks potentially running into Monday, according to Axios reporting carried by MEAWW News. Bessent said the U.S. is "open to discussions on avoiding shared risks and avoiding bifurcation of our two systems," adding that talks would cover both open and closed-weight AI models.

That conciliatory posture sits awkwardly next to Trump's own public statements. Trump has dismissed AI safety concerns as a "hoax," comparing them on social media to the "Global Warming Scam" and what he called the "RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX." He argues the only guardrail AI needs is a "strong and smart" president.

That dismissal comes despite warnings from inside the industry. Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark said a third-party-verified "kill switch" for AI systems may eventually need to be mandatory, according to the BBC. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for slower, more monitored AI development, while OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk have both said they support industry-wide deceleration and independent oversight, MEAWW reported.

The administration's underlying argument, that the U.S. cannot afford to slow down while competing with China's rapidly advancing labs including Beijing-based Moonshot AI, is a legitimate strategic position and not unique to Trump. Whether that competitive urgency is compatible with the kind of safety architecture Amodei, Altman and Clark are describing is the open question Bessent's weekend meetings are unlikely to resolve on their own.

Iran, Energy, and a Denied Visa

The Xi summit isn't happening in a vacuum. Vice President Vance told the All-In Summit that a U.S. pullback from the Middle East would trigger a "worldwide energy crisis" as long as Iran keeps targeting commercial shipping, even amid ongoing peace negotiations. Trump separately claimed U.S. forces have sunk 159 Iranian vessels, saying Iran's "navy is gone, their air force is gone."

China's continued relationship with Iran remains a live issue for the Xi summit. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Beijing exactly one week before Xi's Washington trip, saying China wants "all parties" to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to The Daily Beast.

Separately, the State Department has denied visas to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation, barring them from attending next week's U.N. General Assembly in person, citing failures to meet U.S.-law commitments including unilateral statehood efforts, according to Fox News. Abbas may be permitted to address the assembly remotely, which would mark the second straight year he's been unable to attend in person, per The Jerusalem Post.

The specific agenda items for the Trump-Xi talks, an extension of the trade truce, tariff levels, and any AI framework, remain unresolved until the two leaders sit down after Xi's Sept. 23 arrival. Bessent's weekend meetings with He Lifeng in New York will be the first concrete test of whether Washington and Beijing can agree on anything concerning AI before the two presidents meet face to face the following week.