Xi Jinping Urges US-China Cooperation at State Dinner

White House Banquet Highlights Trade and Diplomacy

The three-day summit opened with a black-tie banquet at the White House where sea bass, baby bok choy, and a bald eagle sculpture were showcased. Donald Trump and Melania Trump welcomed Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to the event. According to Donald Trump, welcoming the Chinese leadership was a “great honour,” adding that he hoped to reciprocate the hospitality shown during his May visit to Beijing.

Xi Jinping stated that the two leaders had exchanged two visits in less than half a year, describing the milestone as “making history in [our] bilateral engagement.” Both leaders delivered opening remarks focusing on shared goals and historical ties, with Xi highlighting the “hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives” sacrificed to assist the US during Japanese aggression in World War II.

Diplomatic Friction and Media Access Disputes

Despite the grand setting, earlier bilateral meetings yielded few breakthroughs on contentious topics such as artificial intelligence, Taiwan, and the US war with Iran. Orville Schell, a China expert and author at the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society, told the ABC that the Washington summit “rates very low in terms of actual accomplishments” and characterized the event as political theater.

The diplomatic proceedings also involved media restrictions. Just hours after a federal judge ordered the White House to restore press access, journalists from CNN and MS NOW were turned away from covering Xi Jinping’s arrival. According to CNN, the White House requested credential names on Wednesday evening, local time. About an hour before the arrival, the White House informed CNN it could send only a photojournalist and an audio technician, excluding the network’s reporter and producer. A press staffer subsequently barred the editorial team from entering and directed them to White House communications director Steven Cheung, while other television networks maintained full reporting access.

Technology Leaders Attend While Trade Deals Remain Limited

The guest list for the black-tie dinner heavily featured US finance and technology executives, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Nvidia president Jensen Huang. In contrast, prominent business leaders from China were absent. Named Chinese attendees instead included Cai Qi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee; Foreign Minister Wang Yi; Vice-Premier He Lifeng; the Chinese ambassador to the US; and officials from the Ministries of Commerce and Foreign Affairs.

Minran Liu, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Queensland, noted that the absence of Chinese business figures likely stemmed from low expectations for major commercial deals. Instead, the visit focused primarily on managing bilateral issues. The sole concrete agreement reached extended the existing US-China trade agreement—which was set to expire in November—for another two months. Under this extension, China will continue selling rare earths to the US while current tariffs remain unchanged. Orville Schell described the arrangement as “a very tenuous status quo, and a very small return on this second summit.”

Protests and Future Meetings

Outside the White House, groups of pro-Tibet and pro-CCP demonstrators gathered before the dinner, kept separate by police lines. Slogans including “China out of Hong Kong” and “Free Tibet” echoed near the red carpet as guests arrived.

Looking ahead, both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet twice later this year at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen and the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Miami.