The U.S. military honor guard has been rehearsing and the White House's new helipad is ready. But will Xi Jinping and Donald Trump manage to go beyond the pageantry at their summit next week?
Warnings of an artificial intelligence (AI) apocalypse hang over the Chinese president's first conversations at the White House with his American counterpart, as both countries compete for supremacy in the technology.
Trump's war against Iran also casts a long shadow over bilateral relations, as China tries to avoid U.S. sanctions against countries that trade with Tehran.
Some reports indicate that Beijing supplied Tehran with intelligence information for an attack against U.S. troops.
A trade war is an even greater concern, and the world's two largest economies are still trying to mitigate the consequences of Trump's global tariffs.
The threat of a war over Taiwan also looms large over the meeting.
Behind all of this lies the desire to manage tensions between a superpower determined to maintain its place at the top and a rapidly rising rival determined to make the 21st century its own era.
"I'll talk about almost everything with him," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
The meeting will take place on September 24.
- "Don't expect much" -
But, according to experts, the two leaders are more likely to simply extend a relative truce rather than produce concrete results, as when Xi received Trump in Beijing four months ago.
"I don't expect much to come out of this," Jonathan Czin of the Brookings Institution told AFP.
"In many ways, this is going to be a recapitulation of Trump's visit to Beijing last May, where the focus was really on the apparent good rapport between the two leaders," he added.
With fears about AI dominating headlines around the world, an agreement to cooperate on regulation or on slowing the advance of the technology is expected to be a main topic of discussion between Trump and Xi.
But any major deal is "politically out of reach for now," said Wang Dong, a professor at Peking University. Both Beijing and Washington fear falling behind in the race for AI dominance.
Tensions over Iran will also surface.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, this weekend for pre-summit talks, including on sanctions against Iran.
Trump, however, has downplayed reports that Chinese entities supplied Iran with satellite imagery for an attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan, and said that Xi has "behaved reasonably well." "We spy on them too," he admitted.
On trade, "there is room to advance on tariffs, agricultural purchases and certain export controls," Yue Su of the Economist Intelligence Unit told AFP.
- "Spectacle" -
Nevertheless, Trump, as on other occasions, seems more interested in the staging alongside a powerful foreign leader than in the substance of the meeting.
"This is less a summit and more a spectacle. It is designed for mass public consumption," said Kurt Campbell, former U.S. Under Secretary of State and now president of The Asia Group.
Trump pressured for a new helipad on the South Lawn of the White House to be ready in time for Xi's visit, which will include a grand State dinner.
Troops in colorful uniforms have been rehearsing the welcome ceremony at the entrance to the White House.
Trump will even greet Xi as he steps off the plane, a rarity for the Republican, according to information obtained by AFP from a government official.
His only disappointment is that his $400 million ballroom will not be ready for the occasion, although he has said that when it is finished it will "surpass" the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where Xi received him in May.
During the trip to Beijing, Trump showered Xi with praise, though Xi warned of a possible "conflict" over Taiwan.
The fear that China will invade the self-governing island and global semiconductor hub — which Beijing claims as part of its territory — remains the most sensitive issue between Washington and Beijing, according to Professor Wang.
One possible concrete outcome would be the announcement of new summits.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet in November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shenzhen, China.
The Kremlin has suggested a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meanwhile, Trump is expected to invite Xi to the G20 summit in December at his Doral resort in Miami.