SadaNews – President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing last week may have yielded only modest results by the standards of U.S.-China summits, but it highlighted a clear advantage for China. Following the intensity of the trade war last year, the two countries have returned to their usual economic and strategic confrontation.
The two-day talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping confirmed that even after the tariffs imposed by Trump on “Liberation Day” and the trade truce reached by both sides late last year, Washington and Beijing are still embroiled in the conflict inherited by Trump upon his return to the White House.
For the United States, this means that the most dangerous issues in the relationship remain unresolved, particularly what Washington refers to as Beijing’s protectionist and monopolistic policies, as well as its moves to expand its military influence in the Indo-Pacific regions.
For Xi, this offers him breathing room and space to return to coexisting with a range of challenges that can largely be predicted. He seemed to frame this change last week as a new framework for relations between the two countries, which he labeled “constructive strategic stability.”
A Truce in the Trade War
Scott Kennedy, a China affairs expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, stated that China emerged victorious, considering the Trump administration’s retreat from its arrogant trade approach since early 2025.
He explained: “Compared to where we were a year ago, when tariffs were at 145%, and the United States was struggling to push China and the rest of the world towards radical change, we have witnessed a counter-revolution and returned to stability.”
Trump brought some of the strongest executives in the United States to the summit on Thursday and Friday, starting from Elon Musk of Tesla to Jensen Huang of Nvidia, but most of them achieved little during their stay, except for attending a lavish dinner.
The summit also failed to produce a public commitment from China to assist the United States in ending the war in Iran, which has caused disruptions in global markets and negatively affected Trump’s popularity.
Craig Singleton, a China affairs expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, commented: “The summit demonstrated stability, but it maintained a state of stagnation… and produced modest results that markets can absorb and manage, which is all the U.S.-China relationship can bear at this time.”
In response to a request for comment, a White House official said: “President Trump leveraged his positive relationship with President Xi to achieve tangible gains for the American people,” referencing a deal for Boeing aircraft and agricultural agreements to expand U.S. exports.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington described the meetings between Xi and Trump as “frank, in-depth, constructive, and strategic,” adding that they “discussed optimal ways for cooperation between the two great countries.”
Analysts suggest that Trump, in light of the trade war that erupted last year, overestimated the power of tariffs to force China to make unilateral concessions.
Beijing responded by raising tariffs on its side and threatened to cut off vital mineral supplies needed by U.S. industries, leading to a tense standoff.
Since then, the White House has shown reluctance to bear the economic repercussions that may follow implementing other forms of American financial and technological leverage, such as sanctioning major Chinese banks.
Reflecting the change in tone, a number of longstanding U.S. demands were not publicly mentioned last week, such as asking China to address its excessive industrial capacity, which its trading partners say unfairly floods their markets with low-cost goods.
China appears satisfied with the fragile truce while dealing with a weakened domestic economy and seeking to enhance technologies that it hopes will overturn decades-long competition balances with the United States.
Senior officials in the Trump administration downplayed the importance of seeking major outcomes even in the lead-up to the meeting, asserting that there was no need to rush to extend the trade truce, which is set to expire in five months, and which the two leaders reached after talks in South Korea last October.
“Much Less Than Expectations”
A source familiar with the trade negotiations stated that China wanted a longer extension of the truce than the Trump administration was willing to grant, along with receiving guarantees regarding ongoing U.S. investigations that are likely to reimpose some tariffs on goods imported by the United States, which the Supreme Court nullified earlier this year.
The source told Reuters that the two sides did not put much on the summit table, adding that some trade deals might be postponed until fall, when Xi is expected to make a similar visit to the White House.
The trade outcomes of the summit were limited compared to Trump’s visit to China in 2017, when companies that accompanied him signed deals and memorandums of understanding worth $250 billion.
Last week’s meeting did not lead to a breakthrough regarding the sale of advanced artificial intelligence chips, the “H200”, from Nvidia to China, which may provide relief to hardliners against China among Democrats and Republicans in Washington, who have warned the U.S. administration against supporting China’s efforts in AI development.
Although it has not been confirmed yet, Trump said that Boeing had concluded a deal under which China would buy 200 aircraft, a figure far less than the anticipated 500 aircraft, and down from 300 aircraft that Beijing agreed to buy during the 2017 visit.
A White House official stated that the United States had established a new trade council, described by American officials as a joint mechanism to reduce tariffs on non-sensitive goods, but the official did not provide many details.
Wendy Cutler, who previously served as acting deputy U.S. trade representative, described the economic gains as “much less than expectations.”
Choi Shogun, an international affairs professor at Renmin University in Beijing, stated that the meetings represented a positive step for China towards realistic competition.
He added that the summit showed that Washington and Beijing: “are no longer aspiring to return U.S.-China relations to a cooperative golden age, but are instead acknowledging the long-term nature of competition and dispute.”