Transcript of Trump-Xi Summit, White House Media Ban Update, Netanyahu's UN Speech New

President Trump rolled out the red carpet for President Xi Jinping of China.

Besides all the pomp and pageantry, what consensus have they reached on issues such as their trade war and artificial intelligence?

I'm Leila Faldin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. While Trump courts Xi, U.S. television networks have not broadcast any footage of the summit. They're waiting for the White House to confirm CNN will be given equal access as part of the TV press pool. How long will Will the president keep up his attack on the press?

At the U.N. General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at critics. Many diplomats walked out. How is Netanyahu's speech being viewed in Israel? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have met all over the world in the last 10 years, but this week, for the first time, they met at the White House.

Trump hosted Xi for a lavish state dinner last night. The U.S. president literally rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese leader as they discussed artificial intelligence, trade, and the Iran war.

NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram joins us now to discuss all of this. So, Deepa, what kinds of things of substance came out of the meetings and the summit?

Yeah, I mean, there were no major announcements, but there were a few concrete takeaways from the summit. The first is the U.S. announced a 2-month extension of the trade agreement between the countries, which was established last year when Trump and Xi met in South Korea. And there were also discussions about Trump's remarks on Thursday morning. The White House has been working on a deal about artificial intelligence. U.S. and Chinese officials had deliberated over information sharing systems that would help alert each other over AI incidents that would affect national security. And that would have been a huge development in AI security globally because there aren't a lot of guardrails that exist for this technology. But it's unclear how far that proposal on AI will actually go, because in his remarks on Thursday morning, Trump was clear that on AI he wants to, quote, leave it exactly where it is. Trump has been opposed to any kind of regulation around the technology and often And we'll see what he speaks about beating China on AI. Overall, though, I mean, there were low expectations for anything major to come out of this summit. The meeting had more of an emphasis on Trump and Xi's personal relationship, more surface-level rhetoric about the friendship between the 2 countries.

Xi, I will say, made several comments about the responsibility the U.S. and China have to cooperate and communicate.

State visits usually involve some level of pomp and circumstance. It really seemed, though, like President Trump wanted to go all out to welcome Xi to the White House. You heard Layla mention rolling— literally rolling out the red carpet. What did that entail?

Yeah, I mean, the welcome that Xi got was actually unusual because Trump met him on the tarmac when he arrived in Washington. And at the White House, you know, Trump's been doing all kinds of construction projects and he's talked up things like building the helipad on the South Lawn as something to show off during Xi's visit. And sure enough, Trump showcased the new helipad, had military flyovers, even gave Xi a tour of sorts of the South Lawn and some of the construction he's been working on. It definitely did seem like there was a bigger red carpet rollout than usual for this visit. I talked to Sam Sacks about all of this. She's a senior fellow at think tank New America, and she actually said the pageantry had some significance because tensions between the US and China have been ramping up so much.

I don't want to understate the importance of pageantry at this moment because things have been so toxic. And so the pageantry itself creates a kind of breathing space that is stabilizing.

What's interesting, though, is that because Trump's ban on 3 media outlets. There wasn't any TV coverage of all of this. Trump posted about it on Truth Social yesterday and complained about how the major TV networks didn't show the, quote, made-for-television moments.

All right. So what are we looking forward to when it comes to Trump and Xi?

Well, a couple of announcements from Xi yesterday included the news that 2 new Chinese pandas are coming to the zoo in Atlanta. I know the bar was low for major takeaways, but panda diplomacy remains alive and well.

Most overhyped black and white animal, the panda. But that's another topic.

Another time. Another time. But honestly, the real conversation between the US and China simply just continues. The door is open for Trump and Xi to meet possibly 2 more times before the end of this year. China is hosting the APEC summit in November, and that's the same summit where Trump and Xi met on the sidelines of last year in Korea. And it would be significant if Trump traveled to China for the 2nd time this year. And then it's possible Xi could come back to the US where Trump is hosting the G20 summit in Miami in December.

That's NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

The fight over press freedom in the U.S. continues to play out against the backdrop of Trump's summit with Xi.

As we just heard, major TV networks dialed back their coverage of the summit in protest over Trump's attempt to ban 3 news organizations from the White House. CNN, MSNBC, and Politico had their press passes reinstated, but some journalists at CNN and MSNBC were denied access to last night's state dinner. And TV coverage of Trump is still not back to normal.

NPR's Brian Brian Mann is following all the developments and joins me now. Good morning, Brian.

Good morning, Leila.

So what happened last night?

Well, despite the judge's order restoring press access for these organizations, CNN and MSNBC now say at least 3 of their journalists were turned away from covering the state dinner. Journalists for state-controlled Chinese media were allowed in. And this came following days when the White House launched attack after attack against U.S. journalists covering Trump's presidency. He's accused them of purposefully writing negative news, and he's tried to dictate which organizations could have access. Meanwhile, the 5 major TV networks that provide that shared pool coverage of the president still haven't restored full coverage. What they're asking for is written assurance from the White House that CNN, one of the news outlets Trump tried to ban, will be given equal access and treatment without government interference. NPR reached out to the White House for comment about that. We haven't heard back. So for now, that full coverage is on hold.

Now, Much of the White House press corps is united pushing back against Trump. Is that pretty unusual?

Yeah, it's really different. Trump has kept the news media on the defensive throughout his second term, using lawsuits and regulatory threats to influence coverage. And while the president targeted 3 news organizations this time, he did say on Truth Social there would be other fake news media outlets to follow. But this time, TV networks didn't just complain individually. They first refused to provide pool coverage after CNN was banned late last week. that meant less coverage for Trump. A bunch of other outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and many other outlets then followed. And together, that muted the amount of attention the president has received.

What has President Trump said about the media's pushback?

Writing on Truth Social yesterday— that's his platform— Trump complained about the lack of coverage. Then in front of Xi, Trump said how much he preferred the Chinese press to his own. The Chinese government, of course, has been notoriously repressive toward independent journalists. One other thing Trump has done to advance his narrative is launch a series of political advertisements praising Trump. The ads say they're being paid for not by his political PAC, but by taxpayers, by the U.S. government. Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, a Democrat, sent a letter yesterday to the White House calling that ad government-funded propaganda.

Yesterday's court order reinstated these press passes for 2 weeks. Where do we go from here?

Judge Timothy Kelly has said he's going to reschedule another hearing in the coming days to determine whether his temporary order will be made permanent. We'll be watching today to see if that hearing is expedited in light of these journalists being turned away from the state dinner last night. Judge Kelly has signaled that he doesn't think the White House has a very strong argument for banning these news outlets.

NPR's Brian Mann, thank you, Brian.

Thank you.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to Israel today after a very short trip to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly. His speech was defiant and defensive as Israel has become increasingly isolated on the world stage.

We're joined now by NPR's Kat Lonsdorf, who's been following from Tel Aviv. Kat, so what are the top takeaways from Netanyahu's address?

Yeah, the speech was dramatic, and it even started that way. As Netanyahu took the podium, dozens of diplomats got up and walked out. There was some booing, while some supporters cheered from the public gallery. There were calls for order, and then Netanyahu began If there are any other moral cowards who haven't yet left this hall, please do so now. Thank you very much. He went on to celebrate and defend the US-Israeli war in Iran, calling it one of the easiest decisions he's ever had to make, saying if he hadn't attacked Iran, quote, we'd all be dead. He also defended Israel against much of the criticism that has come its way recently. He downplayed settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying it was the work of 150 juvenile delinquents. But in reality, that violence has been incredibly destructive. The UK recently said such settler attacks and land grabs amount to, quote, ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu rejected claims that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, something that's come up repeatedly from other world leaders this week. He also accused the media of not telling the, quote, truth about what's happening in Gaza. But just a reminder, Israel has not allowed outside journalists to enter Gaza to independently report in almost 3 years, the entirety of this war.

And we should mention that the Palestinian leader also spoke but be a video.

Yeah, right.

Mahmoud Abbas was denied a visa by the Trump administration to attend in person on grounds that Palestinian leadership is undermining the prospects for peace, even though Abbas has been consistent in his call for a 2-state solution, including in his speech yesterday. It's the 2nd year in a row this has happened. In his video, Abbas called Israel's actions in Gaza a, quote, genocidal war and appealed to world leaders to stop Israel's violence in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Did Netanyahu address any of the criticism that Israel Israel's gotten this week at the United Nations.

Yeah, Netanyahu called many of the world leaders who have been critical, quote, tyrants. Something that was very clear this week is how increasingly isolated Israel is becoming, both at the United Nations, but also in public opinion. There were big protests in New York yesterday outside the UN against Netanyahu's visit. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has also been very vocally against Netanyahu coming to the city. Mamdani calls Netanyahu a war criminal and says that federal authorities should act on the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrant for him. Netanyahu also met with very few world leaders during his short visit, and perhaps most notably, did not meet with Trump, which is unusual.

Now, Israel has a big election coming up next month that will determine if Netanyahu will remain prime minister. Were Israelis paying attention to his speech?

Oh yeah, absolutely. The reaction here, though, has not been that pronounced. Many expected it to be a campaign speech, basically, and that's what it sounded like to them. One of the themes in Netanyahu's speech was that Israel will, quote, win, and he seemed to imply that he was the one who could lead Israel to that victory. The polls are tight headed into this election, and Netanyahu's feeling that. It was clear in his speech that he's feeling pressure from all sides right now, both at home and abroad.

All right, that's NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Tel Aviv. Kat, thank you.

Thank you.

And that's Up First for Friday, September 25th. I'm Amey Martinez.

And I'm Leila Fadel. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Emily Kopp. Rebecca Metzler, James Heider, Tina Karaya, Alice Wolfley, and Mina Advani. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nina Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Misha Hines. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our executive producer is Jay Shaler. Join us again on Monday.