Daines Reacts to Historic Trump-Xi Summit at the White House Ahead of Attending State Dinner

• September 24, 2026

Joins Fox News, Bloomberg TV, and Fox News Rundown

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with national media to discuss President Xi Jinping's historic visit to the White House.

Watch the full interview with Martha MacCallum on Fox News HERE.

Daines on outcomes of Trump-Xi summit:

I think it's important to frame the bigger picture. These are the two largest economies in the world, the United States and China, the two largest militaries in the world, the United States and China. And on technology, the two leading countries in terms of AI frontier models, it's the United States and China. They do a better job adopting AI. They're ranked second in the world, according to Stanford. We're ranked 24th. So we're ahead in terms of innovation. We're behind in terms of adoption. I think a couple of key outcomes from this summit, will be, number one, showing the stability of the relationship. It's very important to see both President Trump and President Xi Jinping working in a constructive manner in that public-facing environment. Behind closed doors, Secretary Bessent, Vice Premier He Lifeng, they've been having some very direct conversations and sorting out some of the trade disputes, AI disputes, Iran and so forth. But it's important in working with the Chinese and their government is to show respect publicly, have the spirit of conversations behind closed doors. That has been my experience of finding the most effective way to manage a productive relationship.

Watch the full interview with Joe Mathieu on Bloomberg TV HERE.

Daines on historic Trump-Xi visit:

I think it'll be seen in China as respect. That's a very important term as we think about this

relationship. Something that the Chinese admire is that President Trump is being very respectful of this visit. And it's a spirit of reciprocity as well. The Chinese literally rolled out red carpet and provided respect to President Trump when he was in Beijing in May. I think when you step back,

it's just very important to remember that the United States and China are the two largest economies in the world by far. They comprise about 42 percent of the world's GDP. It's the world's two largest militaries. Of course, the two countries that have leadership in terms of frontier models of AI. So I look at this relationship as really too big to fail. And I'm very appreciative of what President Trump has been doing to stay engaged in a respectful manner. A lot of the substance in terms of discussions will be going on behind closed doors. A lot of it was done ahead of time with Secretary Bessent and the Vice Premier. So far, so good. I'll be there tonight at the dinner and have a chance to see President Trump, who again put on quite a respectful show for President Xi.

Watch the full interview with Peter Doocy on Fox News Rundown HERE.

Daines on the race in AI against China:

I was just in Hangzhou a few weeks ago. Hangzhou, China is a city about the size of New York City. It's one of the epicenters of AI innovation for China. Zhejiang University is there, which got ranked number one in the world in research, actually ahead of Harvard for the first time in 20 years. We cannot take lightly what China is doing right now in this AI race. It's very important that we continue to lead. Peter, I agree with you. We lead right now in terms of capabilities on these frontier models, but where we're behind is in adoption of AI. We're ranked 24th by Stanford. China's ranked second behind the UAE. So, this is all about ensuring that we have the right kind of guardrails in place, but not inhibiting innovation. That takes wise and thoughtful leadership here in the United States. This is not a good time to have a public discourse on. As you can see, there's this kind of hysteria in Washington. When you're 41 days away from an election, it's not a good time to be having public debate right now in AI. It's really become almost hysterical. We need to have calm, thoughtful heads prevailing in this discussion.

…I think there's probably both. I will say this. I applaud what Secretary Bessent has been framing in terms of trying to deconflict what could be pinch points and friction as it relates to AI between our two countries. Similar to mill-to-mill kind of engagements, if two subs bump in the night in the Taiwan Strait we want to have a mill-to-mill red phone there to deconflict. I think the same thing could be true for AI. Secretary Bessent is on the right track there. But I think the Chinese listen to both. I think it's important that the right kind of rhetoric and tone is set at the top because the governments will flex down through the bureaucracies according to how the leaders flex. If Xi Jinping and President Trump are having positive dialogue, we need to have that kind of dialogue down the stack from a bureaucratic viewpoint as well as in the private sector.

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Contact: Gabby Wiggins