Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026.
China's President Xi Jinping is headed to Washington D.C. on Wednesday, and President Donald Trump reportedly intends to actually roll out a red carpet to celebrate the leader and his allies don't understand why.
Politico's "Playbook" said Wednesday morning that, despite the AI arms race, expectations are low that any meaningful agreement between the U.S. and China will happen.
"The summit is shaping up to be heavy on pomp and light on major breakthroughs," said Politico.
“Apart from the notification mechanism, there's almost zero chance that there will be some kind of meaningful U.S.-China AI safety dialogue, where the governments agree to anything real,” said Liza Tobin when speaking to "Playbook." She was the former director for China at the National Security Council during Trump’s first term.
Another administration official was just as dire: “There isn’t a deal to be had on AI. There’s not. This is not realistic, and I don’t know that there ever will be.”
The White House simply intends to pretend that there was some kind of deal so Trump can have his "win."
When asked what must happen for the White House to call the meeting a success, "Playbook" was told by a senior White House official: “We’re going to say that regardless."
A former Trump official said that the U.S. doesn't have any cards to play, the report said.
"There’s 'no pressure point' right now that would force China to the table," the report said, citing the ex-official. Indeed, the U.S. has cut so much of what it's getting from China that there is little incentive.
Steve Bannon likes it that way. He told Playbook that there should be “no chips, no distillation — America must quarantine the CCP from any access to compute power or intellectual property that allows them to compete in AI."
Meanwhile, Republicans aren't happy about Trump's ceremonial flattery. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, complained from the floor on Tuesday.
"Mr. President, every minute of dialogue, our commander-in-chief should keep in mind that his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States," Wicker said.
CNN reporter David Sanger said that most people don't recall what happened the last time a president went to greet a foreign leader at Andrews Air Force Base, much less hold flyovers and other performances.
"And in fact, that's more of a greeting than he got when [Trump] arrived in Beijing. And the trip in May, I remember, I was on that trip. He got a big welcome," said Sanger. "And, you know, the Chinese military was out in Tienanmen Square ... But we didn't have the kind of flyovers. And what you're going to see."
The second main point, he said, is that Xi fully recognizes that Trump is in a moment of weakness.
Xi "knows about the coming elections," Sanger said. "He's looking at the kind of poll numbers that you were you were discussing yesterday morning, particularly the approval ratings on foreign affairs. He understands the president is stuck in Iran with no easy way out, and that he has done nothing to make that any easier. In fact, we believe that the Chinese have been providing the Iranians with at least some basic technology and intelligence that probably has helped them target those bases in the Middle East."