Trump and Xi Meet in Washington With AI and Trade at Center of Talks

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Thursday in Washington, D.C., their second in-person summit in roughly four months after a prior meeting in May. Artificial intelligence and trade are expected to dominate the agenda, with both sides competing for AI dominance while sharing concerns over AI safety, according to reporting from WTOP News and WHDH. Ahead of the summit, Gatestone Institute senior fellow Gordon Chang claimed the U.S. is in a "very dangerous period" in its relationship with China and asserted that Xi is preparing for war and organizing troops "for battle." The lead account cites Chang's warning that Xi "keeps on talking about going to war," framing the summit against a backdrop of heightened strategic rivalry. Trump, for his part, has publicly touted a productive relationship with China ahead of the talks. The meeting comes as Washington and Beijing jostle for leadership in artificial intelligence, a domain where both governments have acknowledged shared safety risks even as they compete for technological advantage. No official Chinese statement on Chang's characterization is included in the available reporting.

Global Impact

Geopolitically, the summit is the main venue for managing the world's most consequential bilateral rivalry, and the AI-dominance contest sits at its center, with export controls, chip supply chains and data governance all in play. Economically, even a modest de-escalation on trade would ease pressure on global manufacturing and shipping, while failure keeps tariff and technology-decoupling risk priced into markets.