Donald Trump’s 2017 state visit to China yielded more than $250 billion worth of commercial deals across several sectors, a major Boeing jet deal, investment in American manufacturing, a joint agreement to denuclearize North Korea, and a new look at trade relations.
Nearly 10 years later, the president’s state visit in May landed with a much smaller dollar tag, vague commitments on the world stage, and a potential reassessment of U.S. support for Taiwan.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spent two hours in a closed-door discussion on Thursday, during which Trump said they covered “almost everything you could discuss, except for a reduction of tariffs.” The White House fact sheet, released on Sunday, said that both sides will promote strategic stability between the two countries.
Taiwan
While the president and Xi landed on the same page in terms of Iran’s nuclearization, Trump said he was also trying to avoid a war over Taiwan. Trump told reporters he made no commitment either way to defending Taiwan from China if Xi invades. Trump also indicated that he was reconsidering an historic agreement former President Ronald Reagan struck with Taiwan, called the Six Assurances.
“I’ll make a determination over the next very short period,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.
Since 1982, the U.S. has committed that it will not consult with China on any arms sales to Taiwan. In December, Trump approved an $11.1 billion arms sale, at the time the largest such sale to Taiwan. But now a $14 billion deal first approved last year could be on the chopping block.
“I’m holding that in abeyance, and it depends on China,” Trump told Fox News in an interview on Friday. “It’s a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It’s a lot of weapons.”
Within hours, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te criticized the statement and insisted that the arms sale is a vital deterrent to regional conflict.
Although the U.S. maintains a “One China” policy when dealing with Beijing and does not formally recognize Taiwan as its own country, the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act dictates that the government must provide Taiwan with tools to defend itself and to preserve its autonomy. On Thursday, Xi warned there could be “clashes and even conflicts” if Taiwan is not handled properly. When reporters asked Trump if the U.S. would defend Taiwan, he said he refused to talk about it with Xi.
“Trump doesn’t care about protocol. It makes sense for him to question these old assurances,” Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik told RCP. “But it does indicate a concerning shift in our support for Taiwan.”
Nevertheless, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday that there has been no administration change in policy regarding Taiwan.
“The president’s very focused on making sure that nothing happens there,” Greer said in an ABC interview, reiterating that Trump did not make Xi any promises about the arms sale. “The president will keep his own counsel on the sales and when and if that happens.”
Trade
The only new elements to come out of the two-day trip were the creation of a board of trade and a board of investment. The White House described them as the cornerstone of the U.S.-China agreement. The trade board will oversee tariffs on non-sensitive goods, and the investment board will convene government officials to discuss investments into their respective countries. But neither country confirmed who the members on either board will be.
“It’s to be determined how meaningful those are,” Sobolik said. “Those mechanisms are only as good as the coordination, follow-through, and the enforcement from both sides.”
Sobolik said a trade emphasis has been common for every administration’s approach to China. But the Trump administration might be falling into old and failing patterns that downplay security risks. For example, China has become the largest foreign owner of American farmland in the past few years, including land near sensitive military locations. In 2024, Trump promised on the campaign trail to ban Chinese nationals from purchasing U.S. farmland. China’s largest bottled water and beverage company is seeking to open a factory in New Hampshire. But these details appear not to have been raised during the trip.
“The crucial problem with the whole summit is that the U.S. is trying to engage China economically while also choosing industries to de-risk,” Sobolik said. “That will never work, but they’re still trying the same old approach of trade deals to boost relations while also decoupling from China.”
The first concrete deal announced was that China will purchase 200 Boeing planes, far fewer than analysts had expected before the trip. Boeing shares fell by 3.8% on Friday and continued to slide all day Monday.
China agreed to buy at least $17 billion of American agricultural products yearly through 2028. This is in addition to a Chinese agreement last year to buy roughly 25 million metric tons of soybeans for three years.
“President Xi and I agree on many things, and we agree very much on trade,” Trump said Friday on Air Force One. “We’re going to be doing a lot of trading. Our farmers are going to be taking in – I mean, our farmers are going to be very happy.”
But there is still some disagreement in the respective readouts. The Chinese version does not mention anything about rare earths, but the White House version claims China will address U.S. concerns about supply chain shortages related to rare earths and critical minerals.
Iran
According to the White House readout, both presidents confirmed a goal to denuclearize North Korea and that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Nevertheless, Trump said he did not discuss the Strait of Hormuz with Xi or request Chinese help with reopening the shipping lanes.
“I’m not asking for any favors. Because when you ask for favors you need to do favors in return,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “We’ve wiped out their [Iran’s] armed forces, essentially. We may have to do a little cleanup work because we had a little month-long ceasefire, I guess you can call it.”
Trump added that he only implemented a ceasefire at the request of other nations. On Monday, he said he rejected a peace deal from Iran and will continue to reject any that does not include a promise not to develop nuclear weapons.
Trump left the summit with promises for more bilateral conversations with Xi, saying on Friday that he expects further talks at the APEC and the G20 summits this year, in November and December, respectively. According to the president, Xi also invited Trump to a November summit in China, which he said he would try to attend. He added that Xi will come to the White House on a state visit in September.
Carolina Lumetta is White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics. Follow her on X @CarolinaLumetta.
