President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state dinner at the White House on Thursday, part of a three-day visit that included roughly three hours of talks between the two leaders earlier in the day.

Trump Gifts Xi a Bald Eagle Statue

Trump gave Xi an ornate bald eagle statue, roughly three feet tall, designed by an American artist.

“The bald eagle is a national symbol of the United States and an embodiment of the free and soaring spirit of America,” Trump said in a speech at the dinner, adding, “we hope it’ll find a nice place, a wonderful place in Beijing.”

The president added that the two countries had “never gotten along better.”

The dinner opened with a toast of Schramsberg “Blanc de Noir,” honoring the 1972 “Toast to Peace” between President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing.

The first lady led preparations for the evening, which featured a menu blending American ingredients with “subtle Chinese influence.”

Tech CEOs in Attendance, Protests Outside

The dinner drew 134 guests, including Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang, Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.‘s Lisa Su, Apple Inc. Chairman Tim Cook and OpenAI‘s Sam Altman.

Also in attendance were Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. boss Elon Musk, Amazon.com. Inc.’s Jeff Bezos, Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella, Alphabet Inc.‘s Sundar Pichai, TikTok‘s Shou Zi Chew, and Paramount Skydance David Ellison, alongside Supreme Court justices.

Protesters gathered nearby in Lafayette Park, chanting “Free Hong Kong” and “Xi Jinping you’re not welcome.”

Xi Says AI Should Remain Under Human Control

Trump called the leaders’ relationship one he is “very proud” of, saying they’d made “tremendous strides” and would focus on security, technology, AI and “a more balanced trade relationship.”

Xi said the two countries “stand to gain from cooperation and will both lose in conflict,” and called on both nations to avoid the “Thucydides trap.”

On AI, Xi said, “we have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people,” The Hill reported.

Dinner follows the U.S. and China agreeing to extend their trade truce, the Busan Agreement, by two months to Jan. 10, giving both sides more time to work toward a potentially larger trade deal.