Donald Trump Breaks Presidential Protocol For Xi’s State Visit - Newsweek

Donald Trump will personally greet Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in the United States—a rare tarmac welcome by a U.S. president to another head of state.

Trump will be at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday for Xi's arrival, scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, ahead of their highly anticipated White House meeting on Thursday that likely will focus heavily on trade, tariffs and Taiwan.

When contacted for comment before Xi's arrival, the White House gave no further details about the reasons behind the welcome, only confirming that Trump would be at the base.

A sitting American president greeting a foreign head of state at the airport is a rare occurrence. Some notable tarmac meetings include President Dwight Eisenhower meeting Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1959, President John F. Kennedy meeting Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961 and President Ronald Reagan meeting Pope John Paul II in 1987.

Wednesday's greeting will be the first time Trump has welcomed any leader in such a manner during an official state visit, the highest level of diplomatic honor. In 2025, Trump greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac in Anchorage ahead of talks about the Ukraine War.

News outlets reported that Trump's decision to greet Xi rather than receive him at the executive residence shows how Trump is going the extra mile to honor China's leader on his first state visit since 2015.

"Both want the visit to look like a great success," Steve Tsang, director of SOAS University of London's China Institute told Newsweek.

Under State Department protocol, foreign heads of state arriving at Joint Base Andrews are received by the Chief of Protocol, senior military leaders, the ambassador to the visiting nation, or sometimes a Cabinet official or the vice president.

An official welcoming ceremony with a 21-gun salute, color guard, and national anthems usually takes place on the White House South Lawn.

David Sacks, a fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the BBC that the circumstances of the greeting were "quite stunning," given that they would not normally be given to an ally, much less an adversary.

Trump's gesture repays the lavish red-carpet welcome he got in Beijing when he was greeted by Vice President Han Zheng on the runway—a protocol upgrade compared with his 2017 visit.

Trump is expected to participate in an arrival ceremony at the base with Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, where there will be a military honor guard, according to the Associated Press.

The BBC reported there would be military flyover and nearly 500 military personnel at a White House welcoming ceremony on Thursday.

There will also be bilateral summit talks in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room in which trade, global economic stability, security in the Taiwan Strait, and energy corridors will be discussed.

China's first lady is expected to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art with U.S. first lady Melania Trump on Thursday, the BBC reported.

Xi will attend a formal White House State Dinner which is only the second hosted by Trump in his second term, following the U.S. state visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

A lot is at stake during the visit, especially following a U.S.-China trade agreement reached last year that is due to expire in November. There is anticipation of an announcement about a possible extension of this agreement.

"Each may want something from the other but neither is likely to want to let them spoil the visit," said Tsang.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Geoffrey Rowland.