On September 23, President Trump greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C., breaking with standard protocol. The gesture, rarely extended to visiting foreign leaders in recent years, presented China with a powerful visual of diplomatic parity.
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Trump greets Xi on tarmac in rare gesture www.axios.com/2026/09/23/t... Airport welcomes for visiting foreign leaders have largely fallen out of use.
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President Trump greeted Xi at Joint Base Andrews, a break from protocol that gives Beijing a powerful visual opportunity to present China as an equal peer to the US. (Source: Bloomberg)
The US president met his Chinese counterpart on the tarmac in a rare show of courtesy ahead of the three-day state visit which is expected to cover issues including AI, trade, Iran and Taiwan.