Trump rolls out rare military welcome for Xi, but summit's symbolism may outweigh substance

US President Donald Trump will hold a carefully choreographed summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week aimed at preserving a fragile truce between the two powers — though analysts say the spectacle of the meeting is likely to matter more than any concrete outcomes, the Washington Post reported Tuesday (local time).

Xi is set to arrive in the United States on Oct. 23 for a state visit. Trump plans to meet him personally on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland — an unusual gesture, as American presidents rarely greet foreign leaders at a military airfield. Xi, too, has not met a foreign leader directly at an airport since taking office.

Speaking to reporters at the UN General Assembly that day, Trump called it "a great meeting" and said the two leaders "have a very good relationship."

A formal welcoming ceremony involving about 480 US military personnel is scheduled at the White House on Thursday, featuring the national anthems of both countries and a flyover by one B-2 Spirit strategic bomber and four F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The state dinner that follows is expected to draw a roster of top American business executives, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Experts say the summit is more about optics than outcomes. Evan Medeiros, a professor at Georgetown University, said both sides are "trying to buy time to reduce vulnerabilities and project strength." He added that for Xi, it is important to cement his image as an equal to Trump and China's standing as a superpower on par with the United States.

Xi, who is preparing for a fourth term ahead of a party congress next year, has spent the past year consolidating power through purges of the military and government while projecting an image abroad as a stable diplomatic partner.

The top item on the agenda for Thursday's summit is whether to extend the trade truce set to expire in November. Semiconductor export licenses, export controls and AI are also expected to come up, but analysts broadly agree that a major breakthrough on the fundamental issues driving US-China competition is unlikely. Preparations for the meeting were unusually brief, and agenda-setting on the American side was led primarily by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rather than the Department of State or the National Security Council.

Trump has long been drawn to China's elaborate state ceremonies and military pageantry. After visiting the Great Hall of the People during his China trip, he mentioned in August that he wanted to build a grand banquet hall at the White House. The grandeur and tight choreography of Communist Party state architecture and protocol have been a recurring fascination for him.

Experts said Trump "sees in Xi the power to push through domestic opposition" and has grown frustrated watching his own construction projects and domestic policies blocked by the courts.

They added that for Xi as well, receiving the full honors of a state visit makes the trip to the United States worthwhile — and helps him avoid any situation that could be seen as a loss of face.