Trump, Xi reach two-month trade extension at White House summit

Xi presses Taiwan demands, warns of broader conflict

President Trump hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday for a summit that yielded few concrete outcomes and concealed major disagreements on trade, technology, and Beijing’s support for Iran. Trump greeted Xi on the tarmac, showed him White House renovations including a new South Lawn helipad, and hosted an elaborate state dinner. Speaking Thursday night at the state dinner, Trump maintained the pleasantries and didn’t delve into the substance of earlier discussions. Xi said they had “common understanding” on issues without elaborating. The state visit continued into Friday.

The summit’s only concrete deliverable was a two-month extension of an existing trade agreement, pushing its expiration to Jan. 10 to buy time for a broader deal. Beijing had sought a two-year extension. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week that China had agreed to buy 25 million tons of U.S. soybeans and had been “very fulsome” in following through, but was “a little behind schedule” on about $17 billion in other farm commitments that Washington is pressing it to fulfill. Bessent tied further purchases to what he called a “board of trade.”

Beijing pressed Trump on Taiwan, the democratic, self-governing island that China claims as part of its territory. During the private meeting, Xi called on the U.S. to “adhere to the correct position of opposing Taiwan independence,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency. In his opening public remarks, Xi warned the two countries should avoid “the Thucydides trap,” where the world’s foremost power and its rising challenger are destined for war — a theme of the leaders’ previous summit in Beijing. Xi also warned of a broader “zero sum gladiatorial contest.”

Xi has stated his goal of reunifying the breakaway democratic island with the Communist mainland, with U.S. officials warning in previous years that Beijing was preparing militarily for a war. The U.S. follows a “strategic ambiguity” policy toward Taiwan, boosting the island’s defenses through arms sales but never committing to defend it against a Chinese attack. In May, shortly after discussing Taiwan with Xi in Beijing, Trump told reporters he didn’t “want to say” if he would deploy troops in such a scenario. He has yet to approve a $14 billion arms package to Taiwan despite pressure from lawmakers, including Republicans, to deliver the weapons.

The pageantry drew complaints from several Republican senators, who said they weren’t sure what the GOP would gain from hosting the communist leader and U.S. business rival, or at least wanted a more forceful presentation of disputes. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said: “I think President Xi is a reptile. The president wants to work things out with him and I admire that, and I wish him luck. But I’ve met President Xi.…This man thinks he’s on a mission from God except his god is himself.” Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said she was uncomfortable with the pageantry but hoped something positive would emerge for farmers, who have been squeezed by Trump’s tariff policies. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said the red carpet affair undermined GOP campaign messaging efforts against branding Democrats as communists. “The president campaigned on an anti-China policy,” Tillis said. “You go look at those MAGA rallies and look at everybody cheering when he said he’s going to take it to China. Ask them, because they’re voting.”

Beijing pushed to have Xi treated as a full equal, and Trump went further than a typical state visit by greeting his counterpart on the tarmac — a gesture almost unheard of for a U.S. president — and delivering a spectacle that included military flyovers and an elaborate state dinner. Xi announced China would give the U.S. two giant pandas. At one point, Trump stopped by a line of presidential portraits whose automated signature device stood in for Joe Biden, mocking his predecessor in front of the visiting Chinese leader. He showed off a new helipad on the White House’s South Lawn. “He loves good granite,” Trump said of Xi, later dismissing reporter questions about Iran and AI. The only disappointment, Trump said, was that his ballroom wasn’t ready in time for the dinner.

The visit came six weeks ahead of midterm elections in which Trump has branded Democrats as communists and tried banning media outlets whose coverage he dislikes from entering the White House. Trump knocked down suggestions that Xi is in poor health, posting Thursday morning on social media that he looks “strong, vibrant, and fit – Better than ever.”

On artificial intelligence, neither leader appeared alarmed by risks of the technology, despite concerns that AI could spin out of human control. Xi said: “We have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good and ensure that a development of AI is always under human control and serves the well being of the people.” Trump has said he wants to leave things the way they are, with both countries engaged in a fight for supremacy. Ahead of the summit, Bessent raised the idea of a notification system — an AI hotline — to alert each other when an incident rises to the level of national security. It wasn’t clear late Thursday whether that idea was addressed between the two leaders. Some of the biggest U.S. players in AI attended Thursday night’s state dinner, but Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has been most vocal in calling for raising alarms about the threat AI poses, was noticeably absent.