President Donald Trump confirmed Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the White House on Sept. 24 for a high-stakes meeting expected to focus heavily on the global race for artificial intelligence.
Trump revealed the date while speaking at the Environmental Protection Agency about his administration’s push to expand America’s AI infrastructure without forcing families to absorb the enormous energy costs associated with data centers.
“President Xi is coming over on September 24th,” Trump said. “We talked about it when I was over in Beijing, and we’ll be talking about it again.”
Trump described AI as “probably the biggest thing anybody’s ever seen” and warned that the country that establishes dominance over the emerging technology could gain a decisive economic and national security advantage.
“Whoever wins that race is probably going to win, period,” Trump said.
The September meeting will be the latest chapter in Trump’s complicated relationship with Xi, whom the president has portrayed as both a formidable rival and a negotiating partner. Trump formally invited Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to the White House during his May visit to Beijing.
After those talks, Trump said Xi appeared surprised by the pace of American AI development and claimed the United States was “substantially ahead” of China.
The White House has made maintaining that advantage a central administration priority. Just one day before Trump confirmed Xi’s visit, the administration announced more than $5 billion in federal commitments for the Genesis Mission, a government-wide effort to use AI and advanced computing to accelerate scientific discoveries, strengthen national security and expand domestic manufacturing. The White House said the initiative would bring more than 15 federal agencies together around shared computing resources and research projects.
China, meanwhile, is mounting its own aggressive campaign to influence the future of the technology. During a recent conference in Shanghai, Xi called for greater international cooperation on AI while criticizing American restrictions on advanced technology exports. Beijing also unveiled a new international AI organization supported by nearly 30 countries, according to The Associated Press.
Preparations for Xi’s Washington visit are already underway.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Manila on Wednesday for approximately 90 minutes. Rubio said the two officials discussed identifying possible areas of cooperation ahead of what he hopes will be a “very positive visit.”
“There are areas of great differences,” Rubio told reporters. “We’ll have to work through those.”
Rubio said the discussions also included trade and Taiwan, two issues that are likely to loom over the September meeting. He argued that maintaining diplomatic contact was essential despite the rivalry between the world’s two largest economies.
“It would frankly be reckless and irresponsible for the U.S. and China not to have a relationship,” Rubio said.
The summit will give Trump another opportunity to press Xi on China’s trade practices, military pressure against Taiwan and growing technological ambitions. It will also test whether the two leaders can preserve their recent diplomatic progress while competing for dominance in the technology Trump believes will shape the future.
