BEIJING — U.S. President Donald Trump arrived at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on trade, tariffs and bilateral relations. He stepped onto a red carpet where hundreds of flag-waving children were present and a military band played the Star-Spangled Banner.

"It's an honour to be with you. It's an honour to be your friend, and the relationship between China and the US is going to be better than ever before," Trump said at the start of the meeting. He described the trade agreements reached during the visit as "fantastic trade deals."

Among the commercial outcomes announced around the summit, Nvidia was given approval to sell semiconductors to ten Chinese companies, Boeing secured an order for 200 aircraft, and Citi was granted approval to operate a securities business in China. The summit followed months of escalating trade measures. Trump imposed tariffs that rose from 10% in February 2025 to 145% by mid-April 2025. China responded by imposing 125% tariffs on U.S. imports and blocking exports of rare earths. Marco Rubio, JD Vance and Peter Navarro had accused Beijing of "ripping off" America, stealing technology at an industrial scale and flooding U.S. streets with fentanyl.

On Taiwan, he said, "On Taiwan, he [Xi] feels very strongly. I made no commitment either way." The White House read-out of the meeting made no mention of Taiwan. The Chinese read-out argued that a failure to address Taiwan could lead to "clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy."

Trump faces pressure from members of both political parties to formalize a pending $14bn arms sale to Taiwan before Xi's planned visit to the White House in September. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators sent a letter urging him to proceed with the sale and formally notify Xi. Separately, the U.S. State Department sanctioned three Chinese firms for providing satellite imagery to Iran to assist strikes on U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist, said, "I am shocked, given how much people wanted to make this into a positive spirit, he [Xi] started with a threat. It was so brazen and so blatant, that they made this at the very top."

David Firestein, president and CEO of the George HW Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, said, "If you had 50 presidential summits in one month or one year, it still wouldn't change the fact that there are some issues on which the US and China are simply never going to agree. That doesn't mean it's not going to be a successful summit." He added, "We still have the same problems today with market access, intellectual property rights, subsidies…the list goes on. None of those problems have been solved after eight years of having these tariffs on the books."

The White House social media account posted "American strength back on the world stage" accompanied by a video showing the U.S. flag fluttering beneath Chinese flags and People's Liberation Army soldiers marching in unison.