DOMINANT ANGLE
Rome is deciphering Washington's show: beneath the red carpet and the pandas, a displayed friendship that, according to the Italian press, masks deep divergences over Taiwan, Iran, and trade.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The trade truce, which was set to expire on November 10, has been extended by two months until January 10, announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as soon as Xi arrived (La Repubblica).
- 02
Major American networks (CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox) have stopped covering events live since Monday, after the withdrawal of accreditation from CNN, MSNOW, and Politico (ANSA).
- 03
During the state dinner, Trump presented Xi with a bald eagle statue and Xi announced the sending of two pandas to the Atlanta zoo, in the presence of Jensen Huang and Elon Musk (Adnkronos).
ANALYSIS
Rome, September 25, 2026. The Italian press is detailing, gesture by gesture, the pomp deployed by Washington to receive Xi Jinping: on Wednesday evening, Donald Trump went to personally welcome the Chinese president on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews, a rare gesture for a foreign head of state, surrounded by a guard of honor, a military band, and six F-22 and six F-16 aligned on the runway. ANSA emphasizes that this courtesy had been refused to Trump in May, during his visit to Beijing. For Italian dailies, this protocol contrast says a lot: the staging compensates for the lack of content.
The welcome ceremony and state dinner are focusing attention: Trump offered Xi a bald eagle statue, "the embodiment of the free spirit of America," hoping it "finds a beautiful place in Beijing"; Xi, in turn, announced the sending of two pandas to the Atlanta zoo. The major American networks - CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox - have since Monday stopped covering events live, after the withdrawal of accreditation to CNN, MSNOW, and Politico, which have taken legal action against Trump; these same channels were also denied access to the gala dinner, where Jensen Huang (Nvidia) and Elon Musk were in attendance.
Behind the "ostentatious friendship," La Repubblica notes, "a relationship with contradictions": Trump is pushing to end the war in Iran, but China continues to buy Iranian oil and export components for drones and missiles used against American troops. Xi called on Washington and Tehran to return "as soon as possible" to the Islamabad memorandum of June 17. On Taiwan, Xi urged Trump to stick to the 1982 joint communiqué, while Washington announced in December the sale of $11 billion in arms to Taipei - a decision that "considerably irritated" Beijing - and a new package is being studied.
The only concrete progress noted by the newspapers is that the trade truce, which was set to expire on November 10, has been extended by two months until January 10, announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as soon as Xi arrived. No agreement was signed on artificial intelligence, a subject on which Trump and Xi nonetheless jointly rejected the alarmist narrative disseminated by Anthropic. In Beijing, residents cite the fear that the "trade war" will harm everyone and hope for "friendly signals" for the markets.
SOURCES (5)
- PanoramaMEDIUM
- AdnkronosMEDIUM
- Libero QuotidianoMEDIUM
