Xi Wraps Washington Visit With Tour of National Archives

Chinese President Xi Jinping is closing out his three-day state visit to Washington with a tour of the National Archives, where the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are kept.

President Donald Trump is accompanying Xi through the vault of records on Friday, presenting the founding documents of American democracy to the leader of the world's most powerful communist state. The visit coincides with the United States marking the 250th anniversary of its founding, and Trump said a day earlier that he wanted to show Xi "some of the greatest treasures of that proud history."

The Archives is hosting a special exhibition for the anniversary, titled "The American Story," which traces the country's achievements and advances alongside images of its darker chapters. On Thursday, Trump had already shown Xi one copy of the Declaration of Independence — a wall-mounted version displayed in the Oval Office.

Trump also said he hoped to show Xi artifacts illustrating the ties between the two nations, remarking that just as earlier generations crossed the ocean to trade, learn and build a better world, the two countries continue to do much the same.

Xi's final day began at the White House, where Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted the Chinese leader and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for tea. The previous evening, the Trumps held a black-tie state dinner attended by leading figures from the technology industry.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump gave Xi a personal tour of his White House additions, including a gallery wall of presidents and a newly built 100-foot-long granite helicopter landing pad, and pointed out a ballroom still under construction. Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, meanwhile, visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art.

The two leaders also held 90 minutes of closed-door talks on Thursday. According to the official Chinese government readout, they discussed the Middle East, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula. The White House has not yet released any information about the private meeting.

Throughout the visit, both sides have made a show of working to preserve harmony between the world's two largest economies, though the trip produced no major breakthroughs on issues such as trade or the safety of artificial intelligence. The state visit had drawn criticism for being heavy on pomp and light on substance.