President Donald Trump welcomed China’s Xi Jinping at a lavish White House summit, greeting him at Joint Base Andrews and rolling out two red carpets despite his past accusations that China meddled in U.S. elections; the leaders extended a trade truce due to expire Nov. 10.
The truce extension runs through Jan. 10. Trade, the Iran war and artificial intelligence were among the summit’s planned topics, though foreign policy experts cited by NBC expected no substantive breakthroughs. Xi said China would soon send two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shang, to the Atlanta zoo.
Republican Sens. Roger Wicker and Lisa Murkowski criticized the lavish reception. Trump had barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds; after a federal judge ordered access restored overnight, CNN and MS NOW still could not enter until about two hours after Xi arrived. Other networks suspended pooled video coverage in solidarity.
