Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet his U.S. counterpart for the first time on April 6 and 7 at the so-called Winter White House—President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Madam Peng Liyuan and First Lady Melania Trump will accompany their husbands.
The leaders of the world’s two largest economies are expected to set the tone for the China-U.S. relationship, and for the entire the Asia-Pacific region.
President Xi is no stranger to the U.S.—a country that he has visited more frequently than any of his predecessors. The upcoming meeting with President Trump will mark his eighth trip to the U.S.
A timeline of President Xi’s visits to the U.S.
1985
Xi visited the U.S. for the first time in 1985. At the time, he was secretary of the Zhengding County Communist Party in Hebei province. Xi, just 32 years-old and already a promising junior official, led an agricultural delegation to Muscatine, Iowa.
During his stay, he visited farms, went a local birthday party, and picnicked on a boat with his hosts on the Mississippi River.
1990s
Xi visited the U.S. twice in the nineties—in 1992 and 1993. This time around he learned about urban construction and planning in the U.S.
2006
In 2006, as party secretary in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, Xi visited Washington D.C., New York and New Jersey. His delegation marked the 25th anniversary of friendly provincial and state ties between Zhejiang and New Jersey.
2012
In 2012, Xi returned to the U.S. as vice president for a five-day visit aimed at advancing China’s relationship with the U.S.
During the trip, Xi met President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright.
He made a special request to visit “old friends” in Muscatine, Iowa. In Los Angeles, he watched the LA Lakers play the Phoenix Suns.
2013
Just three months after taking office, President Xi met with then U.S. President Barack Obama in California at an informal summit in Sunnylands, California. The media called it the “shirtsleeves summit.” The two leaders agreed on a new model for China-U.S. relations, based on mutual respect and common prosperity.
2015
President Xi visits the U.S. for his first-ever state visit. He flew to Seattle where he went to Microsoft to meet the CEOs of top Chinese and U.S. tech companies, including Alibaba, IBM and Facebook. After Seattle, Xi headed to Washington, D.C. and then to New York, where he gave a major speech to the UN General Assembly.
