The meeting comes just days after Washington removed Sharaa from its terrorism list and marks the first time a Syrian head of state visits the White House since Syria gained its independence from France in 1946.
Afterward, Trump hailed Sharaa as a “very strong leader” and a “tough guy”.
“He comes from a very tough place,” Trump said, “we’ve all had a rough past” and “I like him”.
He also said the US would “do everything we can to make Syria successful because that’s part of the Middle East”.
Although few policy details were immediately available, Syria’s information minister announced in a post on X that Syria had signed a political cooperation declaration with the Global Coalition to Defeat Islamic State (IS) group.
Trump and Sharaa – who once had ties to al-Qaeda and had a $10 million US bounty on his head – first met in May in Saudi Arabia. It was the first official encounter between the US and Syria since 2000, when then-president Bill Clinton met with Hafez Assad, the father of Bashar Assad.
The Syrian president's visit capped a remarkable turnaround for a former jihadist who once had a $10 million US bounty on his head.
In dramatic scenes as he left his meeting with Trump, he climbed out of his motorcade to greet crowds of supporters outside the White House, surrounded on all sides by bodyguards.
'Astonishing transformation'
Syria’s presidency said on X that Sharaa and Trump discussed the bilateral relationship, “the ways to strengthen and develop it, as well as a number of regional and international issues of common interest”.
It published photos of Trump standing and shaking hands with a smiling Sharaa beside the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
Other pictures showed the Syrian leader sitting opposite Trump with top US officials including Vice President JD Vance, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and top US military officer Dan Caine.
Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.
Sharaa’s White House visit is"a hugely symbolic moment for the country’s new leader, who thus marks another step in his astonishing transformation from militant leader to global statesman", said Michael Hanna, US program director at the International Crisis Group.
