Xi Jinping’s first Washington visit since 2015 opened with the kind of choreography usually reserved for the closest allies: a red-carpet welcome at Joint Base Andrews, military music, flags and a White House state dinner. Trump’s decision to meet Xi at the aircraft stairs was an unusually personal gesture, one meant to underline the value he places on the relationship.¹

The timing is politically charged. A year ago, the world’s two largest economies were caught in an escalating tariff fight that raised consumer costs and rattled businesses across borders.² The immediate task now is to preserve the fragile trade truce, even as the agenda stretches to Taiwan, China’s ties with Iran and the competition to dominate artificial intelligence.

Trump has framed the summit first as a test of rapport. “We’re going to have a very good meeting,” he said last week, adding that he and Xi have “a good relationship.”³ That personal emphasis fits a visit designed around spectacle: military bands, flyovers and an evening banquet, followed by further meetings before Xi’s departure.

But the central disagreements are harder to choreograph away. Trump said “Super Intelligence” would be a major topic, while insisting he wanted to leave AI policy “exactly where it is”; he said China shared that position.¹ That suggests a shared reluctance to slow the technology race, not a new safety compact.

China, meanwhile, has presented the reception as evidence of its standing, with its media highlighting Xi’s treatment in Washington.¹ The summit therefore offers each leader a domestic and diplomatic image of stability. Analysts’ broader expectation, however, is more restrained: lavish protocol may smooth the encounter, but it is unlikely to settle the trade, security and technology tensions underneath.³