For months ahead of the scheduled meeting, former U.S. President Donald Trump had been looking forward to and making careful preparations for the official visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States, according to on-the-ground reporting from the BBC. BBC correspondent Sarah Smith, stationed at the White House during the lead-up to the high-stakes diplomatic engagement, has been sharing detailed insights into the extensive pre-visit planning process unfolding within the Trump administration ahead of Xi’s arrival.
Diplomatic visits between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies carry enormous global significance, and the months-long period of anticipation underscores the weight that the Trump White House placed on this pivotal bilateral engagement. Senior administration officials had been working through logistics, agenda items, and protocol arrangements for weeks ahead of the visit, with Smith’s reporting from the heart of U.S. executive power offering the public a window into the behind-the-scenes work that goes into organizing a head-of-state meeting of this magnitude.