Rare honour: Trump will greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews, not just White House

US President Donald Trump will personally greet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews when Xi lands in Washington next Wednesday, a rare airport reception, a US official confirmed on background.

Trump will attend Xi’s arrival ceremony at Andrews, where the Chinese president’s aircraft is expected around 4pm local time on September 23. The president almost never meets visiting heads of state at the airfield. He typically waits at the White House.

The gesture is not a perfect mirror of what Trump received in Beijing a few months ago. When Air Force One landed at Beijing Capital International Airport on May 13, Xi did not come to the tarmac.