Tamara Keith

They are expected to discuss the idea of a U.S.-China board of trade, which would represent a further cooling of what had been a very active and escalating trade war during Trump's first year back in office.

Observers expect China to announce purchases of additional soybeans and other farm products and maybe even Boeing airplanes.

Announcing big purchase agreements is a trademark of Trump foreign trips, but these things have often turned out to be less than meets the eye.

More than a dozen big-name corporate executives are traveling as part of the U.S.

delegation, including Apple's Tim Cook, Tesla's Elon Musk, and Kelly Ortberg, the CEO of Boeing.

But Melanie Hart, the senior director of the Global China Hub at the Atlantic Council, says there are still meetings happening this week to lay the groundwork for Trump's trip.

Everything is still in flux.

At this point, normally, at least the economic deliverables would be nailed in.

That is not the case.

So this is going to be evolving up until the last minute.

She says this summit will look polite on the surface, but tactically, it's going to be a rugby match with both sides grappling for advantage.

And that is quite an image.

But what are they grappling over?

What are they not grappling over?

The experts I've spoken to say both sides want to stabilize the relationship.

Otherwise, this visit wouldn't have gone ahead in the shadow of the Iran war.

But they have very different goals.

Dennis Wilder is a professor at Georgetown University who was a top advisor on China to President George W. Bush.

While other presidents scolded Xi about human rights and warned him to leave Taiwan alone, Trump has at least publicly been more focused on deals and admiration for the power that President Xi wields within China.

It's worth noting this is just the first of what could be four meetings between the leaders this year, depending on how this one goes.