Xi Jinping to visit the United States next week, Trump will be in the airport to welcome: behind the custody is still rare earth, AI and customs game

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to the United States next week and hold talks with U.S. President Trump in Washington on September 24.High-ranking U.S. officials have revealed that Trump will be personally welcomed at the airport when Xi Jinping arrives at the Andrews Joint Base in Maryland. The U.S. President usually receives foreign leaders to visit at the White House, so this arrangement is seen as a rare high standard.

This is Xi’s first visit to the United States in the form of a state visit in more than a decade, as well as another visit of the top leaders of the two countries after Trump’s visit to Beijing in May this year.According to the current public arrangement, Xi and Mrs. Pennying will attend a formal welcome ceremony at the White House the next day after the arrival; Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will host the national banquet, and the leaders of the two countries will also hold closed-door talks and military ceremonies.

High-quality reception cannot hide the scores of the negotiating list

Associated Press and Reuters revealed that the current agenda of talks focuses on trade, rare earth, artificial intelligence and a range of security issues.U.S. officials said Washington could discuss tariff deductions on some non-strategic Chinese goods, but there is no indication that the United States is prepared to ease key export controls in exchange for increased supply of rare earth from China.

Rare-earth is still one of the most realistic codes for both sides. China has significant advantages in the rare-earth mining, processing and magnetic supply chain, which is widely used in smartphones, electric vehicles, missiles, warplanes and other high-tech products. The Trump administration wants Beijing to maintain a stable supply; while China is trying to incorporate tariffs, technological restrictions and market access into broader exchanges.

Just before Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bezent and China’s Deputy Prime Minister Ho Chi Minh will hold economic and trade consultations in New York on topics including AI security, open weight models, rare earth and tariff ceasefire arrangements. AI is no longer just corporate competition, but gradually becomes the core area of China-US technology rules, chip acquisition and national security policy crossings.

National Party List Reflects on Technological Competition and Commercial Interests

U.S. officials have revealed that the tech corporate leaders invited to the national banquet include Amazon founder Bezos, Alphabet CEO Pichai, Apple CEO Cook, Tesla CEO Musk, NVIDIA CEO Zhang Yong, Dell Technology founder Michael Dell and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The list itself illustrates the economic and technological colour of the visit. At the same time, Reuters said that Chinese corporate executives such as Biady, Ninder, Xiaomi and others may also accompany Xi’s visit to the United States, but the final list is still being determined. Some Chinese companies are under U.S. security censorship or trade restrictions, so whether the corporate delegation can get public contact space, will also be an indicator of observing the temperature of relations between the two countries.

During Trump's visit to Beijing in May this year, Xi Jinping was welcomed in the form of national banquet and the South China Sea tea ceremony, the two countries thenined economic and trade negotiation channels. Now Xi Jinping returned to visit, the United States also arranged high-standard ceremonies, but the two sides still have structural differences on Taiwan, advanced chips, rare earth, and economic and trade ties to Iran and Russia.

From the diplomatic perspective, airport reception and national banquet create a political picture of stable relations; from the negotiations content, the real competition between the two sides is the supply chain, technical standards and strategic autonomy space.

For Beijing, the visit is a diplomatic opportunity to deal with Washington’s real interests as well as a domestic political demonstration. For the United States, the high-profile reception also serves to bring China back to the negotiable track while retaining leverage on key technical and security issues. Whether the leaders of the two countries can turn ritual “stability” into enforceable policy arrangements will be the most observable outcome of the September 24 meeting.