Donald Trump welcomes Xi Jinping to the US

President Trump, just waiting for him to exit the car. I guess this is all very carefully choreographed so that the timing is spot-on. But as we were saying before, quite rare for the president to actually meet head of state on the tarmac at the airport. He should be coming out just about now. I mean, you wouldn't want to be seen to be kept waiting. It is a kind of power struggle, all of this. And, you know, Donald Trump, of all people, knows the power of an image. Here he comes. It is 11 o'clock, and if you're just joining us, these are live pictures of China's President Xi Jinping's arrival at Joint Base Andrews in the United States for a state visit set to be dominated by the issue of artificial intelligence. President Trump says AI is the biggest contest of the century, and he sees China as the main rival to beat. President there with Melania, hand in hand, on their way to greet President Xi Jinping. Overcoat, gloves, must be quite cold. Well, Adam and Jenny are still with me in the studio, and James Matthews is in Washington for us. And James, this is the beginning of what will be a three-day state visit. That's right, Gillian. Yeah, it starts here at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. It will go to the White House tomorrow, a full day of it, with pageantry similar, I suppose, to what we're watching here. And that's striking. It's an issue for some people. Many critics, many critics of President Xi who say that he doesn't deserve this, that China hawks in this country who aren't pleased at a president who has made the trip out of town to welcome his guest. This kind of scene wasn't afforded to the president of the United States when he was in Beijing in May. But Trump, he is rolling out the red carpet for President Xi, much as he did for President Putin in Alaska. And there he is, President Xi and his wife at the top of the steps. Interesting to see how he looks and how he moves, actually, Gillian. There have been rumours surrounding his health. I would stress, rumours only, unconfirmed. But there are those who said he wasn't a well man. He seems to be moving OK down those airport steps and greeting his hosts, the two principals and the two wives on the tarmac in Maryland, the Air Force Base, Joint Base Andrews, as the small talk takes place. Interpreters by the shoulder and looks very cordial. Donald Trump calls President Xi a friend. He is a president who wants, who covets a relationship with the Chinese leader. A president who wants much from the Chinese leader and will seek to achieve that over the course of the next 36 hours. Much on the agenda. AI, artificial intelligence, trade, the Iran war. That may well be a source of some angst for Donald Trump, bearing in mind that it's reported China has supplied intelligence to Iran that has resulted in American military personnel being killed. There's also the business of China being Iran's number one trading partner, despite the fact the United States is keen to exert pressure on countries around the world to step up sanctions on Tehran. Keen for countries to do that, but reluctant to put pressure on China. I wonder if behind closed doors Trump will take that step. He hasn't thus far, much to the frustration of his critics and to people who are far more hawkish on China and on President Xi than the image represented there of an American president, very cordial, extending a very warm welcome to President Xi, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. The military are lined up. We will hear the national anthems laid on by the welcome party. There is a fair degree of pageantry here. There will be the fly past of two B1s. President Xi will make his way along that red carpet rolled out. We are told 100 metres. Nobody's got their measuring tape out, but he is being given the warmest of welcomes. There's no doubt about it. It's what Trump wanted to do. His critics don't like the look of this. Those in this country who feel that China is an adversary and should be treated as such, that the man by the president's shoulder is an oppressive autocrat in whose country there is much to be criticised and a source of much criticism in this country. And I do wonder how it will play this kind of imagery with Donald Trump's support base, a support base that in considerable numbers is deserting him. He has low approval ratings. He needs to shore up that MAGA support base in this country. And I do wonder how this visual, these optics go down. Donald Trump cozying up to a Chinese leader who has dismissed America as a declining power. And yet Donald Trump remains very keen to style him as a friend of America. And I think we see this very much. It's the visual representation of what Donald Trump wants to present. Big buddies, the big beasts, the two superpowers, engineering, the direction of a new global order. The US national anthem playing now. Back in the studio. Adam, just wondering how you think this will play out with Donald Trump's base in America as James was alluding to there. Quite literally the red carpet has been rolled out for a head of state that really is deemed as the enemy. Well, those people who regard Donald Trump as the greatest president ever will think this is nothing more than is appropriate. But overall, frankly, I think state visits, official visits, unless there is a major agreement to have them very, very often have very little impact. I mean, you know, you've got to say we do these things better in this country. This is all a bit rinky-dink. I should say, I feel a bit sorry for Mrs Xi. So I looked her up. Madam Peng. She is called Peng Li-Yuan. And they've been married since 1987 and they have one daughter. Why do you feel sorry for her? Well, just because we haven't been mentioning her. Oh, right. Treating her as an appendage. I mean, the other issue is Melania's gone a bit light on the hairspray, hasn't she? Well, I think it's more that Donald Trump has gone heavy on the hairspray. He's used it all. You can see what's going on there. I mean, it is interesting there. You're talking about Trump's base and you've got the US Air Force band playing this fanfare, playing both the Chinese and the US national anthems. You know, the idea of the US Air Force playing the Chinese national anthem is going to stick in the core for a particular subset of Trump supporters, the MAGA supporters, who basically would prefer that there was no foreign policy apart from isolationism. So I do think there are some people who will object to him, Trump, appearing to be friendly with the leader of a country he has always portrayed as an adversary in the strongest terms. But, you know, such is the position now. They have to cooperate with each other. And, you know, I think Donald Trump is an asset to China. He has allowed Xi Jinping to show himself to be calm and steady and predictable on the global stage. And he, Xi Jinping, sees himself as an equal. Do you think sort of offering him the courtesies that weren't extended to President Trump when he visited China, do you think that indicates that Xi Jinping has the upper hand at this point in time in the relationship? Well, I think it indicates that, you know, China is a much more authoritarian country with a clearly defined protocol and what happens at certain moments. Whereas, as we know, Donald Trump, by definition, is someone who, you know, tramples on protocol and does what he wants to do. I don't know. Are they going to travel in the same car? No, apparently not, I think. No, no. No, there's Trump still. Yeah. I'm just wondering if the slightly shaky camera work is because there's no pull by the networks and this presumably will be... It's provided by the White House itself, I think. Yes. Yes, three of the networks were banned from covering this at all. In terms of what these types of visits are meant to achieve, do you think that there will be any success from it? Well, it depends what you define success as. Well, obviously, any agreements, anything actually... No, I mean, Donald Trump has these meetings with people like Putin and it's all about vibes, isn't it? It's all about showing that they can get on and that they respect each other. The actual deals that Trump is so keen to get are always thrashed out afterwards. And as much as... You know, they both want things from each other. You know, she wants assurances there will be no further support for Taiwan, as well as all of these discussions about AI equally. Trump wants to make sure that China is going to stop giving economic and technical support to its enemies. These are all things that will be discussed. But, yeah, these are symbolic. They're like state visits. It's not necessarily hard negotiation. I mean, I'm absolutely sure that Xi will behave absolutely properly throughout. You may remember with the Alaska summit with Putin, Putin actually walked out early and the banquet that they had prepared, the lunch, released the menu, well, it never happened because he just got on his plane. He felt that they hadn't agreed anything. So there's no point in sticking around. I don't think we'll get that from Xi at all. Yeah, no, I think you are possibly correct on that. James, I'm still with us in Washington. So, James, we know the state dinner is taking place in the capital tomorrow, but lots of sticky issues, as we suggested, for them to discuss tariffs, AI, the war in Iran, also Taiwan possibly on the agenda. When will those discussions happen? They happen tomorrow, Gillian, in the White House as we watch President Trump leaving Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. These pictures, Gillian, they are being provided by the agency Associated Press. I would stress that, not by the U.S. pool, but by the Associated Press, and that's why we're using them. There is a secondary pool involved. I won't get you involved in the minutiae of how it all operates, but suffice to say that we're using these pictures because they are being sent to us by the Associated Press. Interestingly, on the visuals, I see the New York Times is saying that they will resume publishing and distributing pool photos now that a judge has heard the case brought against the Trump administration by the three banned media organizations. For the past few days, in common with others, the New York Times had stopped publishing images in support of these banned outlets, so we will see still images. So things are obviously moving in terms of that standoff between Donald Trump and the media. I don't know if you saw, but amidst everything and all the smiles and all the pomp and the national anthems, did you see Donald Trump's face when these B-1 bombers flew past? I mean, they were extremely loud. I couldn't hear Adam when they flew. Yeah, they drowned out Adam in my ear. That's how loud they were. But Donald Trump, you know, his face creased and he clenched his teeth. You can just see this vision of fear, actually. And I tell you, my mortgage is on that being the defining image of today, and I wonder if it will be the defining image of the trip. Trump clenched in fear, standing beside that, you know, President Xi, stony-faced, stony-hearted as ever. Not what President Trump perhaps wanted. Maybe he wishes the still photographers weren't present. But anyway, that's for the papers tomorrow morning, I suppose. But yeah, in terms of business, Julian, you're right. AI, that's the big one. I don't expect any agreement on that. There has already been talk about how they can help each other out around the periphery, you know, if there's a threat to national security from AI. Shall they set up a hotline? You know, there seems to be some kind of agreement on that. But in terms of the bigger picture, guardrails, safety around the direction of AI, and safeguards against AI killing us all, don't expect any hard conclusions around that. Certainly not on this visit. Trade, that will be a big one. Can they extend the fairly fragile truce on trade beyond the 10th of November? Taiwan, as you say, always an issue, the perennial issue. Last time in Beijing, Trump said that she had asked him, would you defend Taiwan if we invaded? And Trump said, I didn't give him an answer on that. So that was interesting. That will worry them in Taipei. And the language around Taiwan, always very interesting. The Chinese in particular, they're looking for any shift in emphasis, shift in American support or indication that they will indeed come to Taiwan's defense. And I suppose generally, you know, the power shift, these meetings, they do provide punctuation marks, pivot points in terms of the analysis of who has the power, what is the dynamic between these two big beasts, the two superpowers, who is in charge, who is developing stature, authority. China presents itself as the stable alternative to what it thinks and calls a declining power in the United States. You know, people will take a view, countries around the world taking a view on the changing world order. We'll look at this and we'll look for direction. The direction of the United States vis-à-vis China, because when the superpowers get together, that goes a long way to indicating where the power lies and the direction of both countries, both together and separately. Well, we were just discussing the trade agreement due to expire in November. And we can report now that the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, has said on Fox News that the US and China today have agreed to extend the trade truce, which was going to expire in November, as I say, through to January the 10th. So that's the very latest on that trade agreement. We were wondering whether anything concrete would come from this state visit. Seemingly, that's the first thing. Yeah, that's news. It's no big surprise, I have to say, Gillian, but certainly the headline they want to pin on these pictures, yeah, it's no surprise because I think both sides, they're not looking for confrontation in this visit. That would suit neither. What will suit both leaders is to have an agreement that helps them out economically at home because they are both having their economic troubles. The question will be around trust, I suppose, Gillian. I was in Beijing when Trump was over there in May. There was a deal struck then for China to buy 200 Boeing aircraft and also agricultural commodities. That was a deal struck, but it was never followed through. So that remains hanging in the air. You can bet the Americans will be pressing them on that because the Chinese have failed to deliver on their part of that particular bargain. And that's part of the problem in all of this, the issue of trust or indeed mistrust because, yes, we have these bullet points that both sides will be talking about, but in terms of the bigger picture, it's about the direction of both these countries, who has the power, and in the changing world order, who is going to emerge on top. President Xi is an emboldened leader of China. He comes here strengthened by the recent history of his dealings with Donald Trump, a US president who tried to make China back down on trade but was told to run along by Xi, who invoked the American need of rare earth minerals. Xi told Trump, listen, hike our tariffs, we'll hike our tariffs, and you won't get your hands on the critical minerals that are so necessary to your country. That forced Trump to back down and reset the relationship rather. So there is that power play going on, and fascinating, fascinating to see how that plays out over the next 36 hours. Indeed, and we'll be back to you for more coverage of this three-day state visit by Xi Jinping. Thanks very much for the moment, James.