The United States Marine Band rehearsed on the north lawn of the White House on Wednesday morning, preparing for the formal welcome that will greet Xi Jinping when he lands at Joint Base Andrews and later enters the White House on Thursday.

Experts warn that the summit is shaping up more as a display than a policy‑driven meeting. "This is less a summit and more a spectacle," said Kurt Campbell, co‑founder of the Asia Group and former deputy secretary of state, while his colleague Evan Medeiros, a former China lead on the National Security Council, added that "there’s been no serious preparation – expectations are incredibly low."

Despite the theatrical focus, the agenda still includes high‑stakes topics such as artificial intelligence, a flashpoint in the U.S.–China strategic rivalry, and the renewal of a fragile one‑year trade truce first struck in Busan, South Korea, last year.

U.S. officials hope the talks could also produce low‑hanging trade deals, including increased Chinese purchases of American soybeans and the establishment of an AI dialogue channel, a subject discussed in recent meetings between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

The visit comes as President Trump faces a midterm election battle at home, while President Xi prepares for the Chinese Communist Party’s fifth plenum, a key gathering of the party’s central committee. Analysts note that Xi is arriving with a heightened sense of confidence about China’s global standing.

The ceremony will break protocol in several ways: after a personal greeting at Andrews, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan will be escorted to the White House for a second arrival ceremony, a military review in the Rose Garden, and a flyover featuring a B‑2 Spirit bomber and four F‑22 Raptors. A state dinner in the East Room will be attended by tech magnates including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, Michael Dell, Jensen Huang and Tim Cook, as well as banking chief Jane Fraser.

First Lady Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan are scheduled to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, and both couples will tour the National Archives on Friday before Xi and Peng depart.

Analysts caution that the personal rapport on display may not translate into concrete policy breakthroughs. Medeiros warned that China could use the summit to project a veneer of cooperative management while subtly signaling to Asia that the United States is deferring to Beijing in the region’s strategic calculus.