By Shashi P.B.B. Malla

US President Donald Trump said he had made “fantastic trade deals” and settled “a lot of different problems” in his meetings with China’s Xi Jinping in last week’s summit in Beijing.

But after the summit ended last Friday, details on exact agreements remained vague.

The overall impression was that of Trump pleading with Xi on various issues, and that of Xi being very cautious.

Trump did arrive in Beijing seeking to seal accords in sectors including agriculture, aviation and artificial intelligence, as well as to contain differences between the two sides in a number of tense geostrategic areas – above all the Persian Gulf region and North-western Asia.

After the first day wrapped up, Trump said Xi had agreed to help open the Strait of Hormuz, as well as buy Boeing jets and American oil and soybeans (AFP/Agence France Presse, May 15).

But there have been no formal announcements – including a final communique —  and the Chinese foreign ministry did not confirm or deny Trump’s statements.

The reserve on the Chinese side echoed the tone of the summit as a whole, where Trump’s overtures to Xi – whom he  described as a “great leader” and “friend” – were met with more subdued tones by Beijing (AFP).

Trump insisted that “a lot of good” had come out of the trip. “We’ve made some fantastic trade deals great for both countries,” he said after a walk with Xi among the rose bushes in the gardens of Zhongnanhai, the secretive, central leadership compound next to Beijing’s Forbidden City.

“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve,” Trump added, without providing specifics.

Xi, who promised to send Trump seeds for the White House Rose Garden, said it was a “milestone visit.”

Xi said the two sides had now established “a new bilateral relationship of constructive strategic stability” (AFP).

Trump has invited Xi to visit the United States this September.

How this will work out in the US mid-term elections, is anybody’s guess.

On the streets of the Chinese capital, reaction to the bilateral talks was lukewarm and unenthusiastic!

“This meeting could be considered a success – though to be honest, none of us really had very high expectations to begin with,” said a 46-year-old IT worker.

Help on Hormuz

In an interview with Fox News after the summit’s first day, Trump said Xi had agreed to several US wish-list points.

On the topic of the war in Iran, the US president said Xi had effectively assured his counterpart that China was not preparing to militarily help Iran, which had essentially closed the Strait of Hormuz (AFP).

“He’d like to see the Hormuz Strait open, and said “if I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help,” Trump said.

The Chinese foreign ministry last Friday released a statement on Iran saying “shipping lanes should be reopened as soon as possible.”

In the Fox News interview, Trump said one business deal struck involved Xi agreeing to order “200 big” Boeing jets.

En route home on Air Force One, he added the deal included “a promise of 750 planes…if they do a good job with the 200.”

The president also said Beijing had “agreed it wanted to buy” US oil, and it would be buying billions of dollars of soybeans.”

China’s foreign ministry again did not confirm or deny the details mentioned by Trump.

The two leaders had been expected to discuss extending the one-year tariff truce that paused their turbulent 2025 trade war, struck during their last meeting in October in South Korea.

But Trump told reporters on the way home that it “wasn’t brought up.”

No announcements were made regarding the advanced Nvidia chips used in artificial intelligence, even though CEO Jensen Huang was among business leaders in Trump’s business delegation.

Chinese tech firms are barred from purchasing Nvidia’s most cutting-edge chips, under US export rules that Washington says are to protect national security.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that there was discussion about setting up “guardrails” for the use of AI. Adding that the world’s “two AI superpowers are going to start talking.”

Taiwan policy “unchanged”

The summit began Thursday with a blunt warning from Xi on a longstanding geopolitical flashpoint, Taiwan.

Shortly after talks started, Chinese state media reported Xi had told Trump that missteps on the sensitive issue of Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict”.

On Air Force One on Friday Trump told reporters he and Xi “talked a lot about Taiwan.”

“He does not want to see a fight for independence,” he said. “I didn’t make a comment on it, I heard him out.”

On Thursday Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged.”

Recent comments by Trump that arms sales to Taiwan are a “very good negotiating chip” in the United States dealings with China are heightening anxieties on the island democracy that Beijing claims as its own.

Asked if he would approve a US $ Dollar 14 billion arms package to Taiwan that has been held up for months, Trump said that’s up to China.

“I’m holding that in abeyance and it depends on China,” he said. “It’s a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It’s a lot of weapons” (AP/Associated Press, May 16).

The US is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and sees all threats to the island as a matter of grave concern.

By conditioning US arms sales to Taiwan on his negotiations with China, Trump may play into one of the island’s “nightmare scenarios,” said William Yang, a Northeast Asia senior analyst for International Crisis Group: that Taiwan, instead of being at the negotiating table, is on the menu.

Although Trump didn’t say specifically what he would want from China in return for denying Taiwan the weapons, he has been pressing Beijing to buy more American goods and to help put pressure on Iran.  

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai

Ahead of the summit, rights groups had urged Trump to bring up the fate of imprisoned Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai.

The US president said on Friday that he had raised the topic, but that Xi had told him “Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him to do”.

Bottom Line

“In terms of substance, I do not think there have been major surprises,” The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Yue Su told AFP.

According to the South China Morning Post, Trump leaves China after much pomp and pageantry but little to show for it.

CNN reported: Trump returns from China with no Iran breakthrough.

The writer can be reached at:

shashimalla125@gmail.com