1. Following their stays in Washington D.C., visiting heads of state commonly tour the wider United States for a period of between five to ten days
Due in no small part to the geographical distance separating the United States from the rest of the world, as well as the size of the nation itself, world leaders embarking on state visits to the U.S. commonly enjoy a prolonged stay. Traveling beyond just the nation’s capital, Washington D.C., foreign heads of state commonly seek to tour other cities as part of their visit. For example, Chinese President Jiang Zemin opened his state visit in 1997 by touring colonial Williamsburg followed by Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
It is expected that the offer of a state visit to the United States is duly reciprocated. After visiting in 1997, Zemin hosted President Clinton in 1998, where the American leader accompanied his host to the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor to view the Terracotta Army. In recent years, as hostility has increasingly grown towards the United States throughout the world it has become difficult to always accommodate this tradition, with President Trump’s planned state visit to the United Kingdom cancelled in anticipation of mass protests.