(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump achieved the pomp he had long desired during his trip to China. However, the American president closed the meeting essentially at the same point he started, receiving little help from his self-described “friend” Xi Jinping to deal with a complex war in Iran and with a challenging domestic political landscape.
The two presidents displayed cordiality and respect during the two-day summit in Beijing. Trump praised China as a beautiful place and called his counterpart a great leader. Xi, for his part, welcomed Trump with military honors, children waving flags, a gift of rose seeds, and a toast to his health.
The scenes of cordiality and the display of stability may be the main takeaway from the visit, which occurred amid growing concerns about the economic impact of a war in the Middle East — fueling global inflation — as well as with the increasingly public tension over Taiwan. When Trump returned to the U.S. on Friday, the slim set of practical results underscored the hurried and chaotic planning that preceded the trip, as Trump and his team dealt with the war and a host of domestic issues.
Still, Trump portrayed the trip as a success — and it was, for some. Here is the list of the initial winners and losers:
Winners
Xi Jinping
The Chinese president seemed intent on a tranquil summit, without bold moves or controversies, and he achieved it. Trump’s presence in Beijing and his laudatory remarks about the Chinese government secured a propaganda victory for the leader of the Communist Party, reinforced by Trump’s silence when Xi stated that they had established a new “constructive, strategic and stable relationship.”
Xi’s team also managed to outpace the White House in communications strategy: his remarks about Taiwan to Trump, made before the end of the first bilateral meeting, generated coverage that highlighted Beijing’s position on the autonomous island. Trump told journalists during the return flight on Air Force One that he did not take any commitments with Xi about Taiwan and would decide soon on a US$14 billion arms sale to the island. When Xi asked him whether the U.S. would defend Taiwan in a conflict, Trump said he had replied, “I don’t talk about that.”
Jensen Huang
The head of Nvidia looked like a likely loser at the outset of the week when his name was left off the White House guest list to accompany the president to Beijing.
But on Wednesday, guess who appeared on the tarmac in Alaska during a refueling stop? Huang himself, who walked toward Air Force One and joined Trump and Elon Musk on the flight to Beijing.
Trump said on Friday that Nvidia’s H200 chips were on the agenda for the meeting and that China had not approved purchasing the components because it wants to develop its own. Huang’s proximity in Beijing and his inclusion in the delegation kept his company on China’s radar as he presses for greater access to the local market.
Visa
Trump lent his support to the American credit card giant Visa’s push to enter the massive payments market in mainland China. CEO Ryan McInerney was among roughly 30 American corporate leaders in Trump’s delegation, and the U.S. president told Fox News that he personally pressed Xi to open access to a market that had 10.2 billion cards in circulation by the end of 2025, with a transaction volume totaling 963.6 trillion yuan (US$142 trillion) last year, according to the People’s Bank of China.
“Visa is a great company. I said: how about using Visa in China? For some reason, they were boycotted, and maybe this will change,” Trump said.
Iran
The expectation was that the war would dominate—if not eclipse—the summit, with American authorities saying before arriving in Beijing that they expected Xi to agree to pressure the regime in Tehran for a peace deal, something that has proven difficult so far. In the end, Trump publicly celebrated positions that China had already adopted: that the Strait of Hormuz should remain open, that Tehran should not have nuclear weapons, and that Beijing would not sell military equipment to Iran.
Trump said he did not ask favors of Xi, but believed he would pressure Iran to reopen the maritime route. China could restrict dual-use technologies or press Iran behind the scenes. Yet Beijing, the main buyer of Iranian oil, did not even mention Iran by name in its public statements about the summit. Trump, for his part, minimized one of his core requests — the recovery of highly enriched uranium — calling it largely a public relations exercise. The status quo may favor Iran, which has resisted Trump’s push for a peace agreement, even with threats of new military actions after weeks of an unstable ceasefire.
Losers
Taiwan
Trump avoided talking much about Taiwan before his trip to Beijing. Xi, on the other hand, did not.
China adopted a new and tougher tone, warning of a potential conflict with the U.S., which supplies weapons to the democratic island that China claims as its own territory. The White House statement about the meeting made no mention of Taiwan, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio later told a TV interview that U.S. policy had not changed.
Trump said on Friday that he heard Xi’s position on the matter, but remained neutral. “I think the last thing we need now is a war 9,500 miles away,” he told reporters on the return flight.
Boeing
Planes, planes, planes. The American aerospace giant stood at the top of the list of likely winners from the summit, amid speculation that Beijing would place an order for as many as 500 new aircraft.
In the end, Trump said they had committed to buying 200. He presented the figure as a victory, saying Boeing had expected 150, but the amount fell short of the expectations set before the meeting, and the company’s shares fell. Later, he stated that China promised to buy up to 750 airplanes if Boeing does a “good job” with the initial order.
Republicans in Congress
Big agricultural or trade deals could give Trump’s allies some momentum ahead of the midterm elections in November.
However, the deals advanced by the White House seemed more smoke than fire. Officials indicated that a plan to reduce tariffs on about US$30 billion in Chinese non-strategic-sector products would likely require months of administrative work before finalization. Trump boasted that Xi showed interest in buying U.S. oil, but also signaled that no deal had been closed.
And while Jamieson Greer, Trump’s trade representative, suggested that China would make purchases of agricultural products in the tens of billions of dollars over the next three years, he admitted that the agricultural calendar would push some major purchases — such as soybeans — to be completed only in the fall. Futures fell.
Meanwhile, the agreement that reopens the Chinese market to American beef comes at a moment when domestic meat prices remain a concern for voters.
Trump told reporters that he and Xi did not discuss a possible extension of the tariff truce during the talks.
Secret Service and the Press
Although most of the attention at the summit was focused on the leaders of the world’s largest economies, an unexpected disruption involved the professionals who accompany Trump wherever he goes: reporters and Secret Service agents.
On Thursday, at the Great Hall of the People, Chinese journalists burst into the Trump-Xi bilateral meeting room, trampling an American staffer who ended up with a swollen foot. Later, at the Temple of Heaven, a site visited by Trump as part of the cultural itinerary offered by Xi, Chinese authorities barred entry for a Secret Service agent accompanying the reporters because he was armed.
Later, as the two leaders visited the monument, Chinese officials guided the press to a nearby building and did not allow them to leave. The journalists and their American escorts ended up forcing their way out to try to reach Trump’s departing entourage, running past Chinese officers who tried to restrain them. The incident drew strong coverage in the American media, threatening to overshadow other aspects of the trip.
Trump, who often criticizes the press, told reporters that he had discussed with Xi Jimmy Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s former Apple Daily, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February on charges of collusion and sedition. The president, who calls for Lai’s release, said Xi told him that achieving that would be “difficult.”
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