Two hundred Boeing aircraft. “Double-digit billions” in farm goods. A vague commitment to buy American oil. And two wars neither leader could resolve.

President Donald Trump wrapped his two-day state visit to Beijing on Friday declaring he had secured “fantastic trade deals” with Chinese President Xi Jinping — a carefully choreographed summit that produced tangible commercial agreements layered over deep and unresolved strategic disagreements.

“This has been an incredible visit. I think a lot of, a lot of good has come of it,” Trump said at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership compound, before sitting down for tea and a working lunch with Xi on the summit’s final day. “We’ve made some fantastic trade deals, great for both countries.”

What Was Actually Announced

The concrete outcomes, according to Trump and his officials: China agreed to purchase up to 200 Boeing jets, expressed interest in buying US oil to bypass Middle East shipping disruptions, and committed to “double-digit billions” in annual agricultural purchases over the next three years, according to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

The two sides also discussed creating a “board of trade” and a “board of investment” to manage commerce in “non-critical, non-strategic areas,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC.

Xi agreed to visit the United States on approximately September 24, Trump said — a reciprocal gesture after the Beijing trip.

But the Boeing order, long the centrepiece of US-China trade showcases, drew immediate market scepticism. Boeing shares fell 4 percent on the news, according to market reports, with investors having expected a larger order. The gap between expectations and outcome captures the texture of these “fantastic deals”: real, but more modest than the rhetoric suggests.

Taiwan: The Red Line

If trade produced headlines, Taiwan produced friction.

Xi warned Trump directly that mishandling the Taiwan issue could spark conflict, according to multiple reports from the summit. The exchange underscored the fundamental strategic divide between Washington and Beijing: China claims the self-governed island as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force, while the US maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity backed by arms sales.

In December, Washington approved an $11 billion arms package to Taiwan, though it has not yet moved forward with delivery, according to Euronews. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, attending the summit, said it would be a “terrible mistake” for China to take Taiwan by force.

Xi warned of conflict; Rubio warned against provoking one. Neither side shifted their position.

Hormuz: Narrow Alignment

The two leaders found marginally more common ground on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed to shipping since the outbreak of war between Iran and a US-Israeli coalition on February 28.

Xi told Trump that Beijing wanted to help negotiate an end to the war and the reopening of the strait, which normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. Trump said China had vowed not to provide Iran with military equipment.

The White House said both sides agreed the strait “must remain open to support the free flow of energy.”

But the alignment has limits. China is Iran’s largest oil customer and has a clear interest in keeping Hormuz open for its own energy imports — not necessarily in supporting the broader US strategic position in the Middle East. Chinese vessels have already begun transiting the strait under an understanding with Tehran over passage protocols, according to Iranian state media, even as US and allied shipping remains effectively blocked.

Managed Competition, Deep Mistrust

The summit’s shape — economic cooperation layered over strategic disagreement — reflects the prevailing framework in US-China relations: managed competition with selective coordination where interests happen to align.

That framework has its sceptics. Claire E Reade, a senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former US trade official, told Al Jazeera that Beijing’s willingness to deal is bounded by its long-term ambitions. “China does not trust the US, and China wants to beat the US in what it sees as long-term global competition,” she said. “This limits what can be agreed.”

The numbers underline the point. Two-way goods trade between the US and China fell to approximately $415 billion in 2025, down sharply from a peak of $690 billion in 2022, according to data cited by Al Jazeera. The average US tariff on Chinese goods stands at 47.5 percent, up from 3.1 percent before Trump’s first term, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. China’s average tariff on US goods sits at 31.9 percent.

Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore, questioned what leverage Washington was actually bringing to the table. “Trump expects China to buy more stuff from America and let US companies operate more freely in China,” she said. “What is he offering? Very little.”

Trump arrived in Beijing with a delegation of top CEOs — Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang — and a promise to “open up” China’s economy. He leaves with agreements that Reade described as essentially “no-cost gifts” from Beijing: purchases China would likely have made anyway, timed for diplomatic theatre.

Xi framed the visit around “constructive strategic stability.” That phrase, deliberately anodyne, may be the most honest thing either leader said.

Sources