Biden and Trump to Meet at White House on Wednesday

President Biden will host President-elect Donald J. Trump at the White House on Wednesday, extending a presidential tradition to his onetime rival that Mr. Trump did not offer four years ago after Mr. Biden defeated him.

In a brief statement, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said that Mr. Biden had invited Mr. Trump to join him in the Oval Office, but she did not provide any additional details about the meeting.

The visual of Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump together in the White House is likely to be as striking as the one of former President Barack Obama and Mr. Trump in 2016, after Mr. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton to secure the presidency for the first time.

After that meeting, Mr. Obama told reporters that he had wished Mr. Trump well.

“Most of all, I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed — because if you succeed, then the country succeeds,” Mr. Obama said.

When Mr. Biden defeated Mr. Trump after a bitterly divisive contest in 2020, Mr. Trump did not concede his loss, and the two men did not meet in the White House. At that time, the country was still in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

The tradition of the outgoing president and the incoming president meeting is typically a symbolic one, demonstrating the desire of both sides to engage in a peaceful and orderly transfer of power, especially when the new president is from the opposing party.

Eight years ago, Mr. Trump used the moment to be conciliatory toward Mr. Obama, who had repeatedly called him unfit for office and a threat to democracy.

“I have great respect,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel.”

That did not happen. Mr. Trump did not seek his predecessor’s counsel and spent much of his time in office insulting Mr. Obama and seeking to undo the former president’s agenda.

Tensions between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden were even deeper following Mr. Trump’s refusal to concede defeat and his actions before and after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol while lawmakers were certifying that Mr. Biden had won the election. In addition to not hosting Mr. Biden for the traditional meeting at the White House, Mr. Trump did not attend the inauguration, as most outgoing presidents do.

In remarks after Mr. Trump’s recent victory, Mr. Biden congratulated his successor and pledged to help him make an orderly transition back into the White House.

“Campaigns are contests of competing visions,” Mr. Biden said. “The country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice the country made. I’ve said many times you can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree.”