President Donald Trump is hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington this week as the world’s two largest economies try to steady relations without resolving their main disputes, the Associated Press reported.

The meeting comes after last year’s escalation in tariffs and China’s restrictions on critical minerals. AP said the leaders are expected to avoid a grand bargain and instead manage fragile ties while competition intensifies.

Artificial intelligence is now central to the rivalry. Both governments are seeking an advantage in advanced systems, chips and the infrastructure needed to train and deploy them. Trade remains intertwined with those controls, because access to technology and access to markets increasingly shape the same strategic contest.

The summit also reaches beyond the bilateral relationship. Washington and Beijing are using leverage around Iran and Taiwan, while other governments are watching for signs that the two powers will stabilise or widen the pressure.

The value of the meeting may therefore lie in what it prevents rather than what it announces. Dialogue can lower the risk of miscalculation, but it does not remove the structural competition over technology, supply chains and influence.

Any statement from Washington or Beijing should be read against that wider background: a managed pause may be strategically significant even if no formal settlement emerges.