Xi Jinping to visit US for Trump summit amid trade and AI tensions

Xi Jinping will visit Washington this week for summit talks with Donald Trump. The meeting comes as both sides juggle tariff disputes, sanctions pressure and an intensifying AI race.Image used for representational purposes onlyChinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to the United States from September 23 to 25 at the invitation of US President Donald Trump, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced on Monday. Xi is scheduled to arrive in Washington on September 23 and hold summit talks with Trump.The visit comes at a time when Washington and Beijing are dealing with trade tensions, sanctions and competition in artificial intelligence, while also keeping diplomatic channels open. Ahead of the summit, senior officials from both sides held talks in New York on economic and trade issues, including AI, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke by phone on September 17 about high-level exchanges between the two countries.According to China's state-run Xinhua news agency, the officials who led the talks in New York on Sunday included Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Xinhua said they held "candid, in-depth and constructive" discussions on key economic and trade issues and also discussed AI-related matters. The report said that, guided by the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries, both sides exchanged views on important economic and trade issues of common concern and on implementing the consensus reached in previous talks, while upholding the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post had earlier reported that Trump plans to accord a rare airport reception to Xi by personally receiving him on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. The two leaders last met in Beijing in May during Trump's visit, when they held talks aimed at improving ties between the world's two largest economies. The upcoming talks have gained added significance after Trump signed a new sanctions law authorising tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India. Trump has also signed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law, which authorises expanded sanctions and tariffs targeting Russia and countries that buy its energy exports. He has also unveiled a new "AI Force" in what could mark a further step in the technology race between the two countries. In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said attempts at the "decimation, or destruction, of AI" were among the many hoaxes generated by what he called the Radical Left Democrats.China has rejected US attempts to impose tariffs over its purchases of Russian oil and gas, saying normal trade cooperation between countries should not be subject to interference by third parties. "China engages in normal economic and trade cooperation with other countries based on equality and mutual benefit," Guo Jiakun told reporters last week. He also said China opposes "long-arm jurisdiction" and unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law and lack a UN Security Council mandate. Despite the tariff threat, Washington and Beijing are also negotiating a reciprocal tariff reduction framework covering products worth USD 30 billion from each side, China's commerce ministry said. Ministry spokesperson Huang Ling said the consultations aim to reach a reciprocal tariff reduction arrangement at the "earliest possible date". Overall, Xi's visit will bring together ongoing exchanges on trade, sanctions, AI and broader ties between the two countries. With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 21, 2026 13:36 IST