While Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the U.S. last week didn’t result in any significant new agreements or trade deals, it did produce one adorable transaction: Two giant pandas arrived Sunday in Atlanta on a specialized Boeing 777.

The male named Ping Ping and the female named Fu Shuang are the latest bears loaned from the Chinese government to the U.S. as part of Beijing’s “panda diplomacy” with Washington.

They were born in 2020 and raised outside Chengdu, a city in western China, according to Zoo Atlanta.

Xi announced Ping Ping and Fu Shuang’s relocation Thursday during his three-day trip to Washington, calling it “a piece of good news” and an example of “friendship between the Chinese and Americans” despite the heightened economic tensions between the two superpowers.

China and the U.S. have been engaged in a trade war since early in Trump’s second term, when he enacted pricey tariffs on China. They have also clashed over artificial intelligence, national security and China’s military exercises around Taiwan.

The entirety of world’s wild giant panda population resides in China and is strictly controlled by the Chinese government. The tradition of loaning giant panda bears to U.S. zoos dates to the presidency of Richard Nixon in 1972, when China was still led by Mao Zedong.

The custom was interrupted briefly in 2023 when China rescinded pandas loaned to the National Zoo in Washington, before a new pair was sent to the zoo in 2024.

Through the cooperation, pandas in the United States have successfully bred and raised 17 cubs to date — six in San Diego, four in Washington and seven in Atlanta, according to Chinese state media. Atlanta’s original agreement ran from 1999 to 2024.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will live at Zoo Atlanta for 10 years, according Chinese state media. The zoo has not announced when the pandas will be visible to the public.

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