Trump plans state dinner for Xi during China leader’s US trip

WASHINGTON – The US will hold a formal state dinner in honour of President Xi Jinping when the Chinese leader visits Washington later in September, US President Donald Trump said.Trump told reporters on Sept 4 that he’d host the dinner Sept 24, while downplaying tensions between the US and China over Beijing’s ties with Iran.“We’re going to have a state dinner, and we’re gonna – we do great things with China, we’ve been doing very well with China,” Trump said.“He’s a great gentleman, we get along great, we have a very good trading relationship, and you know, they’re a competitor and all of that, but we have a very good relationship with President Xi,” Trump said.“He’s coming with his beautiful wife, she’s a beautiful woman and a great woman, respected all over the world, they’re coming together.”The visit will be the latest mile-marker in the roller coaster relationship between the two countries, which were in a spiralling tariff war in 2025 before striking a trade truce of sorts and teeing up Trump’s visit to China earlier in 2026. China has been the main buyer of Iran’s oil, and Beijing has resisted Trump’s calls to cut off trade with Iran, as the US president seeks to increase economic pressure on Tehran to force them to cut a deal that would end the conflict that has stretched more than six months.With regard to Iran, “I said ‘please don’t get involved’ to President Xi – I have a very good relationship – and they’re not really involved,” Trump told reporters on Sept 4 in the Oval Office. BLOOMBERG