US President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday for a state visit, hours after Washington said the two countries had agreed to extend their trade truce by two months to January 10.
The extension keeps lower tariffs and Chinese rare earth supplies in place while negotiators work on a possible larger deal.
It is the leaders’ second summit this year, after Trump’s state visit to Beijing in May, and Xi’s first trip to Washington since September 2015.
Thursday’s programme included an arrival ceremony and a military review, followed by a private Oval Office meeting, an expanded bilateral session and a state dinner in the East Room, where US business executives are expected.
AI takes centre stage
Artificial intelligence dominated the opening remarks.
Xi said the two countries were leading AI nations with a shared responsibility to ensure its development is “always under human control.”
Trump said the choices made on security, technology and AI “can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come.”
Earlier in the day, Trump signalled little appetite for binding limits.
In a Truth Social post, he said he wanted to leave superintelligence where it stands, adding: “Our guardrail is the DOJ!”
Truce buys two more months
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the truce extension on Wednesday evening, after his second meeting in four days with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The arrangement, struck at the leaders’ October 2025 meeting in Busan, South Korea, pulled bilateral tariffs back from triple-digit levels and paused Beijing’s curbs on rare earth and critical mineral exports.
It had been due to expire on November 10. Bessent said the extension gives Washington “more time to see what we can do on the economic front.”
He also said China was meeting its commitment to buy 25 million tons of US soybeans but was lagging on a $17 billion pledge for other agricultural goods and on rare earths.
Bessent pointed to possible announcements on financial services and farm purchases during the visit.
Trump has since imposed a 12.5% tariff on goods from 60 trading partners, including China, over alleged failures to curb imports made with forced labour.
A roughly $14 billion arms package for Taiwan has been on hold for months, following an $11 billion sale approved in December.
Stocks slip as yields and oil climb
Wall Street traded lower on Thursday, though bonds rather than the summit were the main pressure.
The S&P 500 was down 0.51%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.32% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.78% during Thursday’s session.
The 10-year Treasury yield held near 5.10%, its highest since 2007, while the 30-year yield touched 5.43%, the highest since 2004.
Investors will watch for purchase commitments or tariff relief from Thursday’s talks.
The leaders could meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November and the G20 in Miami in December, ahead of the January 10 deadline.
This post Trump-Xi summit puts AI, trade and rare rarths in focus may be modified as updates unfold
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