President Donald Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping during a high-stakes summit in Beijing on Thursday, calling him “a great leader” while emphasizing the importance of cooperation between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump made the remarks during a face-to-face meeting with Xi after arriving in Beijing alongside Cabinet officials and business executives for a series of economic and diplomatic meetings.
“You are a great leader,” Trump told Xi during the meeting. “Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it because it’s true.”
“I always say the truth,” Trump added while discussing his public comments regarding the Chinese leader and relations between the two countries.
Trump and his delegation arrived in China Wednesday evening US time and were welcomed by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng before formal summit events began in Beijing.
The summit comes amid continuing tensions between the US and China involving trade disputes, tariffs, technology competition and geopolitical disagreements across Asia and the Pacific.
During a state dinner, Trump invited Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to visit the White House on Sept. 24 for additional meetings and discussions.
Xi last visited the White House in 2015 during the Obama administration and most recently traveled to the US for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in 2023.
Trump and Xi also met previously at the APEC summit in South Korea last year following several earlier meetings during Trump’s first term in office.
Those meetings included Trump hosting Xi at Mar-a-Lago in 2017 and additional gatherings in Beijing, Argentina and Japan.
During the dinner remarks, Trump described the US-China relationship as “one of the most consequential relationships in world history.”
Trump highlighted historical and cultural ties between the two countries, referencing Benjamin Franklin’s writings about Confucius and the influence of Chinese culture in the US.
He also praised the role of Chinese immigrants in helping build American railroads and pointed to the popularity of American products and culture inside China.
“Chinese restaurants in America today outnumber the five largest fast food chains in the United States all combined,” Trump said during the dinner.
Trump emphasized what he described as shared values between the American and Chinese people, including hard work, family and patriotism, as the Conservative Brief reported.
“Together, we have the chance to draw on these values, to create a future of greater prosperity, cooperation and happiness and peace for our children,” Trump said.
Xi also stressed the importance of stable relations between Washington and Beijing and described the relationship as the world’s most important bilateral partnership.
“Both China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” Xi said through a translator during the dinner.
“Our two countries should be partners rather than rivals,” the Chinese president added while discussing future economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two nations.
