Chinese President Xi Jinping told Donald Trump at the White House that the two nations must pursue extensive cooperation to avoid a military collision, invoking the concept of the "Thucydides trap" — the tension that arises when an emerging power challenges an established one.
At the start of his summit meeting with Trump, Xi outlined conditions for a mutual understanding that he said could steer the world's two largest economies away from confrontation and toward shared gain. He called for strengthened communication, candid dialogue, and the maintenance of regular military-to-military exchanges and improved crisis-communication mechanisms.
"We should coexist in peace," Xi said. "China and the United States, as two major countries, stand to gain from cooperation and will both lose in confrontation." With such measures in place, he added, "the Thucydides trap can be overcome." Xi first raised the phrase during a meeting with Trump in Beijing in May.
Xi also proposed an invitation for 100,000 young Americans to visit China on student exchanges. The proposals came amid intensifying competition between the two powers over artificial intelligence and trade policy, with each side having imposed tariffs on the other.
Trump, who earlier welcomed Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland the evening before, called Xi the first Chinese leader to make a second state visit to the US. The previous visit took place in 2015 under President Barack Obama. Trump noted the occasion fell during America's 250th anniversary of founding.
"President Xi and I have made tremendous strides on the issues facing our two countries," Trump said, citing discussions aimed at encouraging a more balanced trading relationship, including new market access for American farmers and ranchers. Trump said the visit would cover security, technology and AI — which he referred to as "super intelligence," a term he introduced in his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Xi echoed his appreciation for the personal relationship he has built with Trump, saying the two had "respect for each other" and had "stayed in touch." Addressing Trump directly, he said: "I am ready to work with you to steer the giant ship of the China-US relationship on a steady course towards the future."
Later that Thursday, Trump hosted Xi at a White House state dinner attended by several prominent tech executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple chair Tim Cook, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In his remarks, Trump recalled the arrival of Chinese diplomats in the US 158 years prior and said the gathering revived "the spirit of that first encounter here on American soil."
On trade, the US maintains strict export controls on microchips, semiconductors, software and chip-making equipment intended to slow China's AI development. A truce agreed between Trump and Xi in South Korea last year to keep tariffs lower was due to expire in November but has now been extended until February, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Analysts say the extension suggests Trump remains dissatisfied with Xi's concession offers on trade and intends to keep pressure on ahead of a possible meeting at the G20 summit scheduled for Miami in December. Despite the ongoing trade dispute, Chinese imports continue to surge into the US, and China is on course to run a $1 trillion trade deficit for a second consecutive year.
Despite the harmonious tone from both leaders, analysts expressed skepticism that lasting stable arrangements will emerge across the range of outstanding issues.
