EVERETT — President Xi Jinping left Western Washington from Paine Field here Thursday morning, en route to Washington, D.C., for an official state visit with President Barack Obama.
Xi’s Air China Boeing 747-400 took off from Paine Field around 9:19 a.m.
The Chinese leader was here for about 48 hours, during which he toured the Boeing factory, visited Microsoft in Redmond, met twice with U.S. corporate executives and visited a Tacoma high school.
His visit disrupted traffic on area freeways as his motorcade carried him to events in Everett, Redmond and Tacoma from the Westin hotel in downtown Seattle, where he stayed two nights.
Snohomish County roads were especially affected because his plane was based at Paine Field and his Boeing visit fell in the middle of his stay. Four times, I-5 and other roads were closed to traffic as he traveled between Everett and points south.
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