US President Donald Trump’s Beijing summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping resulted in a series of Chinese commitments regarding US soybeans, energy, and aircraft. This two-hour-and-fifteen-minute meeting provided a foundation for both governments to stabilize relations after years of trade and security tensions, laying the groundwork to rebuild bilateral ties following escalating conflicts, export controls, and geopolitical disputes. President Trump extended an invitation to President Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to visit the White House on September 24.
Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Trump stated that Xi pledged to assist the US on Iran matters and agreed to purchase US soybeans, oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and other energy products, along with 200 Boeing 737 jets. A US official conveyed Xi’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait of Hormuz and any attempts to impose a toll for its use. Xi also expressed interest in acquiring more American oil to diminish China’s future reliance on the strait. The official added that “both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that a significant soybean commitment from China had already been secured, affirming a key agricultural pledge from the previous Trump-Xi summit. Bessent told CNBC on Thursday, “And then soybeans, we have a very large purchase commitment from the Busan agreement for the next three years. So beans are really all taken care of.” This referred to an agreement from the previous Trump-Xi summit in South Korea last October, where China committed to purchasing 25 million metric tons of US soybeans annually over three years.
Shifting global geopolitical dynamics, including Washington’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January and the blocking of Iranian ports in April, reportedly made Trump’s energy purchase request more amenable to Beijing, according to some Chinese pundits who cited Middle East conflicts and global supply chain tensions.
Reuters also reported on Thursday that Chinese Customs initially appeared to renew licenses for hundreds of US beef exporters, a move that would have re-opened market access for many plants whose permissions had lapsed. However, Customs later reverted the registration status of these exporters to “expired” on its website, with the reasons for this reversal remaining unclear.
Prior to the trip, observers characterized Trump’s mission as straightforward: to boost sales for American farmers and manufacturers, thereby strengthening the Republican Party’s economic message before the November mid-term elections. Other US objectives included pressuring China to stop buying Iranian oil or supplying Tehran with drone parts and missile-related materials, and advocating for the release of Hong Kong pro-democracy businessman Jimmy Lai. Media reports suggested that further talks were anticipated between the two governments to reduce tariffs on approximately US$30 billion worth of imports unrelated to national security concerns.
Meanwhile, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang’s last-minute decision to join Trump’s plane in Alaska for the Beijing trip spurred market speculation that the two countries might have agreed on an arrangement allowing Chinese firms to import and deploy Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing units (GPUs). Reuters reported that the US Commerce Department had cleared about 10 Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Tencent, TikTok parent ByteDance, and JD.com, to purchase Nvidia’s H200 chips. Lenovo and Foxconn were also approved as distributors. Despite these clearances, Nvidia has not yet delivered any H200 chips to China, as Beijing has encouraged local firms to prioritize domestic chips. Specifics about potential H200 shipments to China were not immediately available.
For Beijing, President Xi’s main priority at the meeting was to rebuild China-US relations and prevent the re-imposition of heavy US tariffs in early November 2026, following a one-year truce. Beijing also sought for the Trump administration to halt arms sales to Taiwan and roll back existing tariffs and export controls on China.
During a banquet held in honor of Trump and his delegation, Xi stated that China-US relations impact the well-being of over 1.7 billion people in both nations and the interests of more than eight billion people globally. He urged both sides to embrace this historic responsibility and steer the “giant ship” of China-US relations steadily in the correct direction. Xi framed his national rejuvenation agenda and Trump’s “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” slogan as compatible, rather than conflicting, objectives. In a toast, Xi declared, “The people of China and the US are both great people. Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand. We can help each other succeed and advance the well-being of the whole world.” While MAGA is a Republican slogan closely associated with Trump in the US, Xi’s “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” in China refers to Beijing’s ambition to achieve wealth, power, and global prominence by 2049, while reversing what the Communist Party refers to as a century of national humiliation by Western powers. This concept is also intertwined with Beijing’s goal of reunification with Taiwan.
“If the Taiwan issue is handled properly, the bilateral relationship between China and the US will be overall stable,” Xi told Trump during their official meeting on Thursday. “Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.” He emphasized that safeguarding cross-strait peace and stability represents the largest common ground between China and the US, asserting that “Taiwan independence” and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water. He urged the US to exercise extra caution in handling the Taiwan question.
Xi announced, “I have agreed with President Trump on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability.” He expressed his desire to work with Trump to “set the course and steer the giant ship of China-US relations, so as to make 2026 a historic, landmark year that opens up a new chapter in China-US relations.” This new vision, he added, would offer strategic guidance for bilateral relations for the next three years and beyond, expecting it to be welcomed by both nations and the international community. “China-US economic ties are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature,” he affirmed, adding that “where disagreements and frictions exist, equal-footed consultation is the only right choice.” He urged both governments to implement the leaders’ consensus and enhance communication channels across political, diplomatic, and military fields. He also advocated for expanded exchanges and cooperation in trade, health, agriculture, tourism, people-to-people ties, and law enforcement.
During the official meeting, Xi presented three critical questions: “Can China and the US overcome the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm of major-country relations? Can we meet global challenges together and provide greater stability for the world? Can we build a bright future together for our bilateral relations in the interest of the well-being of the two peoples and the future of humanity?” He concluded, “These are the questions vital to history, to the world and to the people.”
The Thucydides Trap, a concept popularized by American political scientist Graham Allison, describes the inherent risk of war when a rising power challenges an established one. In the context of China-US relations, it pertains to whether Beijing’s ascent and Washington’s strategic dominance can be managed without military conflict. Cui Hongjian, a professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, observed that “some US commentators and policymakers had in recent years treated China-US rivalry as unavoidable, saying the two countries had already fallen into the Thucydides Trap and were bound to compete for supremacy.” He noted that “this pessimistic and negative sentiment not only affected China-US relations, but also affected the international community, raising the sense of insecurity and uncertainty.” Cui stated that the latest Trump-Xi meeting, following their Busan summit, signaled both sides’ intent to steer the relationship away from pessimism toward controlled engagement. “This has resolved a major psychological concern in the international community,” he remarked, adding that “this interaction is expected to reverse that sense of losing control and put the two countries back on a track of reasonably and effectively managing their relationship.”
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