Trump and Xi extend trade truce but announce few breakthroughs at US summit

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping extended a pause in their trade dispute until January during Xi’s state visit to the US, but announced no major agreements on artificial intelligence, Taiwan or other contested issues.

The leaders held about 90 minutes of talks in the Oval Office on Thursday. China’s official Xinhua news agency said Xi urged Trump to oppose “Taiwan independence,” while the White House had not released its own detailed account of the meeting. Trump had delayed approval of a proposed $14 billion arms package for Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

On artificial intelligence, Xi said the technology should remain “under human control.” Trump had said before the meeting that AI would be discussed but indicated he did not favor new regulation. No joint initiative on the issue was announced.

The trade-truce extension maintains lower tariffs, suspends restrictive controls on rare-earth exports and delays higher port fees on ships. A China Beige Book survey conducted before the summit found a rebound in US orders for Chinese goods, though overall Chinese domestic and export orders remained below year-earlier levels.

Much of the visit centered on ceremony. Trump met Xi at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, showed him the new helipad recently constructed on the White House’s South Lawn and hosted a state dinner attended by technology executives and other business leaders. Trump described their meeting as “great,” while Xi said the countries should act as “responsible major countries.” Protesters gathered outside the White House during the dinner, and the BBC reported that some were arrested.