What to expect from Xi’s visit to the US?

Chinese President Xi Jinping is on a state visit to the US from 23 to 25 September. AI and rare earths are expected to feature heavily in talks with US President Donald Trump, while climate change remains largely absent.

Climate was previously seen as one of the few areas where the two countries could meaningfully cooperate, but Trump is not interested in talking about the issue, analyst William Yang told the Guardian. The US withdrew from the Paris Agreement for the second time in 2025.

Rare earths are expected to be a major topic alongside other trade issues. China, the world’s largest producer, enforced strict export controls in 2025 in response to the US tariffs. Chinese shipments of rare earth magnets to the US fell 20% in August from July, according to customs data reported by the Financial Times.

Rare earth magnets are essential to clean energy technologies including wind turbines and electric vehicles. But their extraction and processing can also cause toxic waste, water pollution and ecosystem damage. Severe environmental damage has been caused by decades of rare earth extraction in Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia.

AI is also expected to feature in discussions. A new US-China AI dialogue with an emphasis on national security concerns was proposed before the summit, but AI’s environmental impact was not mentioned. 

AI is increasingly becoming an environmental issue as demand for electricity, water and computing infrastructure grows. At COP31, Türkiye’s presidency is seeking support for an “Antalya Pledge on AI”, which would encourage governments and companies to disclose AI infrastructure’s energy and water use and secure additional clean power supplies.

Read Dialogue Earth’s previous analysis on 30 years of US-China climate cooperation.