Xi says China and US must ensure AI ‘is always under human control’ as Trump touts ‘great friendship’ before White House talks - live

One is an authoritarian who represses the media with a strong allergy to democratic elections. The other is head of the Chinese Communist party.

Donald Trump welcomed the Chinese president, Xi Jinping , to the White House on Thursday, setting the stage for a scene quite unlike anything the august old building has seen over more than two centuries.

And while Chinese state media had been welcomed onto the White House grounds, many US journalists had not, thanks to Trump’s ban on CNN, MS Now and Politico . Michael McFaul, a former US diplomat, described the vivid contrast as “wrong and embarrassing” .