Trump and Xi to meet in Washington on September 24
The meeting comes as markets try to steady themselves after the Fed's first rate hike since 2023, Aramco's halt of crude sales to Europe and diesel at $6.45 a gallon.
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Chart: USO, a fund that tracks crude, daily closes since Sep 2023
UpdateSunday, September 20, 2026 at 4:50 PM ET
Axios reported that Trump and Zelensky are expected to meet on Tuesday.
President Trump and Xi Jinping will meet in Washington on September 24. Xi is skipping the United Nations General Assembly this year and will instead make a one-day visit to the White House. Trade, tariffs, technology and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are expected to be on the agenda.
The summit lands in a week already crowded with diplomacy. Trump is due to meet Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in New York likely on Tuesday to discuss Donbas, energy and trade, and he has threatened new tariffs on Canada and the European Union.
Stocks go into the week still unsettled. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2023, and its press conference briefly eased investor nerves. That calm did not last: Saudi Aramco halted crude sales to Europe and diesel prices climbed to $6.45 a gallon, reviving the pressure on energy costs. The Bank of Japan has turned more hawkish and the Bank of England is holding off on a rate move.
The week also brings a full run of economic data, including flash PMIs, the University of Michigan sentiment survey and Germany's Ifo index, along with the first comments from Fed officials since their pre-meeting quiet period. Behind it sits a larger question: whether record levels of government bond issuance can keep meeting higher rates before the strain shows up in credit markets and corporate earnings.
For investors, the Trump-Xi and Trump-Zelensky meetings add a binary risk to an already jumpy market. Progress on trade or Ukraine could ease the combined pressure from tariffs, energy prices and interest rates. A breakdown could lock in the current hawkish mood instead. The presence of technology executives at Xi's dinner has fed speculation that Trump may use the summit to carve out tariff exemptions for artificial intelligence firms, a move that could offer some relief. Either way, traders are bracing for sharp swings around both meetings rather than a clear resolution.