Donald Trump and Xi Jinping traded warm toasts at a White House state dinner on Thursday, but the two leaders left the pressing disputes between Washington and Beijing largely untouched. Tension over Taiwan persisted even as tech and business chiefs filled the room.
Toasts without breakthroughs
Trump and Xi exchanged warm words at a lavish White House state dinner, but the event gave little indication of progress on the issues dividing the two countries. Trump told the room the countries had never gotten along better despite their different systems, while Xi called it a historic juncture in US-China relations.
Xi added that both leaders' ambitions could be mutually reinforcing and said the two sides should keep artificial intelligence under human control. Trump has previously called China the United States's main rival in AI development, but neither leader detailed what, if anything, the talks produced on the issue.
Taiwan still divides them
Tension over Taiwan continued beneath the diplomatic tone. Xi urged Trump earlier in the day to take the correct position on the self-governing island, which Beijing claims as its own. Trump has delayed approving a $14bn arms package for Taiwan after Xi warned in May that mishandling the issue could cause the two countries to, according to BBC News, "collide or even enter into conflict." Trump at the time called the delay a very good negotiating chip with Beijing.
Business leaders fill the room
The dinner marked Xi's first visit to the US in over a decade, and it drew a heavy tech and business presence. Apple's Tim Cook and Nvidia's Jensen Huang sat at the same table as Trump and Xi, alongside Elon Musk. OpenAI's Sam Altman, Google's Sundar Pichai, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg also attended, along with executives from General Motors, Visa, Paramount Skydance and ExxonMobil. Anthropic was a notable absence from the guest list.
Trump has separately been expected to seek trade concessions during the visit, including lower Chinese tariffs on American goods and increased Chinese imports of American agricultural products, alongside higher US imports of Chinese rare earth minerals. Neither leader addressed those trade questions publicly at the dinner. The two leaders were set to continue their visit on Friday with tea at the White House and a tour of the National Archives before Xi's departure.
Source: BBC News
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