Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump at the Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing on May 15. (Evan Vucci/Pool Photo via Associated Press)
key takeaways:
- President Donald Trump said on July 6 that he expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping around September 24.
- Trump referred to Xi’s potential visit when discussing the White House ballroom, saying a larger venue would accommodate the crowds wishing to see him.
- The possible visit will coincide with the United Nations General Assembly. Trump and Xi last met in China in May.
President Donald Trump said he expected to meet with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping around September 24, which would coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York that month.
Trump released the date during an event on July 6 discussing the construction of the White House Ballroom, citing a possible visit by the Chinese President as the reason for building the new structure.
“For example, I believe President Xi is coming here at the end of September 24,” Trump said. “We need a bigger ballroom; we can get thousands of people together to see him. Everyone wants to see him.”
The visit will coincide with the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in Washington on that date. Trump, who is set to deliver his speech to the General Assembly on September 22, usually spends a few nights in New York meeting other world leaders. Xi has attended the event only once since taking office in 2012.
While Trump has previously said he hopes to host Xi in September, he has not yet offered a possible date for the visit.
Trump and Xi met during a high-profile summit in Beijing in May this year, in which the countries sought to strengthen ties following tensions over the Iran war.
Despite initiatives to strengthen ties between the world’s two largest economies and some progress on trade, many geopolitical frictions remain, including the Middle East, the status of Taiwan and Trump’s efforts to rebuild his tariff wall.
