Other BriefingsThe Xi-Trump Summit: What Was Agreed—and What Was Not
The long-awaited Xi-Trump Beijing Summit has yielded only a few tangible results. China has agreed to purchases of American agricultural products and Boeing aircraft, and the two sides have established new trade and investment cooperation mechanisms. However, no breakthrough appears to have been made on the tariff truce negotiated in October 2025. Still, the meetings served to maintain communication and goodwill and lay the groundwork for further negotiations.
Trump has returned to Washington following his second state visit to China with only a handful of minor trade and business deals to show for his long-awaited meetings with President Xi Jinping.
According to a White House Fact Sheet released on May 17, China agreed to purchases of US agricultural products and Boeing jets, and restored market access to American beef and poultry. The two sides also agreed to establish a Board of Trade to oversee the bilateral trade of non-sensitive goods, and a Board of Investment to discuss investment-related issues.
The visit was expected to reinforce the detente reached following the two heads of state’s last face-to-face meeting in Busan last October, which resulted in a one-year tariff truce that extends until November 2026, as well as a suspension of rare earth export controls and other trade barriers.
A statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released on May 16 confirmed some of these details, including the establishment of the boards of trade and investment and an agreement to expand two-way trade, including in agricultural products.
No extension of the trade truce – yet
What was Achieved During the Xi-Trump Meetings? Deals closed according to White House Pending negotiation
The MOFCOM statement said that the two sides “will continue to implement the outcomes of previous consultations and have reached a positive consensus on relevant tariff arrangements”. It also asserted that the Board of Trade will be used to discuss issues such as tariff reductions on relevant products, and that the two sides agreed in principle to “reduce tariffs on products of equal size of concern to each other”.
However, the White House Fact Sheet made no mention of tariff reductions or of any discussions of these tariff reductions.
Comments by the US Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer in an interview with Bloomberg TV on May 15 suggested that the two sides had not reached an agreement on mutual tariff reductions.
When asked about a possible extension to the tariff truce reached in October last year, he said “we will see about that”, but emphasized that the current agreement was “solid” and that there is a “willingness on both sides […] for each country to continue that”.
Following the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a core tenet of Trump’s tariff regime in February, which wiped out two key tariff lines on Chinese goods, the US launched two Section 301 investigations into Chinese trade practices. These have been met with retaliatory investigations from China, raising fears of a renewed tariff war.
When asked about the investigations, Greer stated that “there will be a certain level of tariff on the Chinese” and that the two sides will have to “manage” the possible fallout from the investigations. He added that the findings of the investigations will be released within the next several weeks, after which possible action – including tariffs – could be taken.
“The Chinese are going to be looking at what we are doing there compared to agreements we’ve had in the past on certain tariff levels, and we’ll just have to try to manage that.” – Jamieson Greer, Bloomberg TV
In addition to tariffs, the White House stated that China had agreed to “address U.S. concerns regarding supply chain shortages related to rare earths and other critical minerals”, as well as “prohibitions or restrictions on the sale of rare earth production and processing equipment and technologies”. The MOFCOM statement made no mention of the discussions on rare earths. When asked about the rare earths in a regular press briefing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated that “China is always committed to keeping global supply chains stable and secure”.
US seals deals for agriculture and aircraft purchases
On the agriculture and Boeing deals, there appears to be consensus. The White House Fact Sheet asserts that China approved an initial purchase of 200 Boeing aircraft, and agreed to purchase at least US$17 billion in US agricultural products each year in 2026, 2027, and 2028. The latter deal will be in addition to China’s previous commitment to purchase American soybeans made in October last year.
While MOFCOM did not confirm the specific numbers, it did state that the two sides “agreed to promote the expansion of two-way trade, including in agricultural products, through arrangements such as mutual tariff reductions on a certain range of products”, and “reached reached relevant arrangements regarding China’s purchase of aircraft from the US and the US guaranteeing the supply of aircraft engines and spare parts to China”.
US officials have repeatedly stressed the importance of increasing agricultural trade in the run-up to the summit, and it could prove to be an easy win for the US. As part of the Busan agreement, China committed to purchasing 25 million metric tons of soybeans from the US each year in 2026, 2027, and 2028, as well as an initial purchase commitment of 12 million metric tons by the end of 2025, a target it has already reached. Trump later claimed that China was considering adding eight million tons in shipments from this base during the current season, but this has yet to be confirmed.
The White House also stated that China had restored market access for US beef by renewing expired licenses of more than 400 US beef facilities, as well as issuing new licenses. It added that China has resumed imports of American poultry determined to be free of avian influenza by the USDA.
MOFCOM stated that China would “actively promote the resolution of US concerns regarding the registration of beef facilities and the export of poultry meat from certain states to China”, without specifying whether licenses had been restored. Meanwhile, the US Meat Export Federation confirmed on Friday that China Customs had granted a five-year extension to 425 American beef facilities whose licenses had expired in the China Food Import Food Establishment (CIFER) system, with 77 new establishments added to the system, confirming the White House’s claims.
Besides beef and poultry, MOFCOM also stated that the US would seek to resolve “China’s long-standing concerns regarding the automatic detention of dairy and aquatic products, the export of potted plants to the US, and the designation of Shandong as a bird flu-free zone”. This refers to import alerts that the USDA has had in place on Chinese seafood and dairy products since 2007 and 2008, which haven’t been lifted since, as well as restrictions on imports of Chinese penjing plants. These issues were not mentioned by the White House.
No information regarding the possible approval of imports of the Nvidia H200 chips was issued by either side, despite the presence of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the summit. The sale of the chip had been approved for export by the US in January, but is awaiting finalized import requirements from China. Greer confirmed that the two sides did not discuss chip export controls at the meetings.
What does this mean for the future of US-China relations?
The lack of a concrete resolution to the ongoing tariff dispute may be of concern to businesses that are hoping for a more stable bilateral relationship in 2026. With the results of the two Section 301 investigations and the possible retaliation from China hanging in the balance, the door has been left open for possible volatility in the summer if no agreement is reached in time.
However, there are signs that such an agreement may have been in the works. MOFCOM’s remarks that the two sides had “agreed in principle to reduce tariffs on products of equal size of concern to each other” seem to echo Greer’s statement that “a certain level of tariff” will remain in place. This suggests that a reduced tariff rate could be agreed upon for the longer term, but underscores that complete tariff elimination remains unlikely.
Meanwhile, the agriculture and aircraft deals, while relatively narrow in scope, are nonetheless an important sign of goodwill between the two sides and serve to bolster the foundation of pragmatic cooperation that has been built between the two sides since Trump and Xi’s meeting in Busan last October.
While certain pressing issues – such as the fate of the tariff investigations – remain unresolved for now, the two sides appear to be laying solid groundwork for resolving these issues at a future date. The Board of Trade could prove to be a useful mechanism for resolving current trade disputes and preventing the escalation of tensions in the future – possibly even reaching a deal that is satisfactory to both sides before a decision is made on the Section 301 investigations. At the same time, lower-level US officials will doubtlessly continue to meet over the next few months to build upon the progress made at the Beijing summit.
Long-term, there will be many more opportunities to reach a broader deal. Trump has extended an invitation to Xi Jinping to visit the US, expected to take place in September, which could provide the setting to reach a more lasting trade agreement before the truce expires in November.
This article was first published on May 16, 2026, and last updated on May 18, 2026.
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