Trump–Xi Summit: Another Major Deal or a Moment That Reshapes the World?

The summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has drawn intense global attention not simply because it concerns relations between the world’s two largest powers. Amid mounting talk of a new Cold War, expanding trade barriers, and intensifying competition for technological dominance, the deeper question is whether Washington and Beijing are still capable of stabilizing their relationship — or whether the world is entering an even more confrontational era of geopolitical and economic rivalry.

PREPARATIONS

Every visit by the leaders of the United States and China to each other’s country inevitably attracts close global attention. Meetings between the heads of the world’s two largest economies help shape expectations about the future trajectory of relations between the two most powerful states — and, by extension, the direction of international politics and the global economy in the years ahead.

The very fact that Washington and Beijing continue to maintain high-level dialogue reflects a mutual interest in preventing relations from sliding into open confrontation. It signals a willingness to manage disputes through negotiations, compromises, and strategic restraint rather than through uncontrolled escalation. The alternative — a deeper breakdown in relations between the United States and China — would have consequences felt far beyond the borders of either country.

That is why, after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed during their meeting in South Korea last October on a future visit by the U.S. president to China, preparations for the trip immediately became the focus of heightened attention in capitals around the world. Yet the preparations themselves proved anything but simple.

Most countries carefully choreograph presidential summits, planning everything from honor guards and state banquets to draft agreements, joint statements, and documents prepared for signing. Beijing, however, elevates such preparations into a form of refined political theater, paying meticulous attention to every detail — down to the precise number of steps Xi Jinping should take at a particular location or exactly where he should stand to ensure the most favorable camera angle.

Yet meticulous long-term preparation has never been a defining characteristic of Donald Trump and his administration. Meaningful work on the visit reportedly began only a few weeks before the trip rather than months in advance, as the Chinese side had expected. Beijing’s preparations were further complicated by the limited number of reliable channels in Washington through which Chinese officials could coordinate issues related to the summit.

Within Donald Trump’s inner circle, decision-making authority is concentrated in the hands of only a few individuals. Among them is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose responsibilities range from economic policy and inflation management to broader financial coordination. Also central to the administration’s foreign-policy efforts are presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

All three are simultaneously involved in managing multiple international crises, including efforts to end the war in Ukraine, negotiations surrounding Gaza, tensions with Iran, and developments involving Venezuela and Cuba. In practice, the administration’s key interlocutors simply lacked the time and bandwidth to work through the details of the summit far in advance.

As a result, by the originally scheduled dates of Trump’s visit — March 31 to April 2 — several key issues related to U.S.-China trade still remained unresolved. Chief among them was a proposed “managed trade” agreement, a mechanism under which both sides would commit to purchasing goods in strategically important sectors — including energy and agriculture — at roughly equivalent volumes and values.

The initiative came from the U.S. administration, which was seeking to reduce its enormous trade deficit with China. Last year, that imbalance accounted for nearly half of total bilateral trade turnover and has long remained one of the main sources of tension between Washington and Beijing. However, negotiators were unable to finalize all the parameters of the agreement by the end of March, making additional time necessary.

The operation against Iran became another factor behind the postponement, and the trip was ultimately delayed by six weeks. During that period, both sides succeeded in completing the preparatory work, paving the way for the long-anticipated visit of the U.S. president to China.

RED CARPET, HONOR GUARD, AND CAMERA FLASHES

Donald Trump began his three-day state visit — the first by a U.S. president to China in nine years — on Wednesday, May 13, arriving in Beijing in the evening. The following morning, under the gaze of dozens of cameras, Xi Jinping hosted a lavish welcoming ceremony for his American counterpart in Tiananmen Square, complete with a red carpet, an honor guard, and a 21-gun salute.

The American president appeared particularly moved by the Chinese schoolchildren who greeted the two leaders with flowers and the flags of both countries — a customary feature of official ceremonies in China. Trump later mentioned the children during the negotiations, saying he had been touched by the warmth and enthusiasm of their welcome.

Formal talks between the two delegations followed, later expanding to include senior executives from major American corporations accompanying the president to China. Among the nearly thirty business leaders were Elon Musk of Tesla, SpaceX, and X; Tim Cook of Apple; as well as senior executives from Boeing and Nvidia. Each of these companies maintains substantial commercial interests in China while simultaneously facing growing difficulties operating within the Chinese market.

After nearly two and a half hours of closed-door talks — about which virtually no details were disclosed — Donald Trump and Xi Jinping traveled to the Temple of Heaven, the imperial-era religious complex in central Beijing built in the early fifteenth century and now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was there that American reporters briefly managed to ask Trump about his impressions of the negotiations.

“Wonderful. A wonderful place. Incredible. China is beautiful,” the U.S. president replied.

The visit to the Temple of Heaven was also accompanied by a minor security incident involving a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to the American press pool. Chinese security personnel refused to allow the agent to enter the complex while armed, resulting in a roughly thirty-minute delay for members of the presidential press pool at the entrance. The matter was ultimately resolved after Chinese and American officials reached a compromise.

That same evening, a state banquet was held in honor of the U.S. president, during which Donald Trump invited Xi Jinping to visit the White House on September 24. The unusually precise timing of the proposed trip may suggest that a decision regarding the Chinese leader’s visit to Washington has already been made behind closed doors.

On Friday morning, the final day of the summit, Trump and Xi met once again, although no details were disclosed about the substance of those discussions. Shortly afterward, the American president concluded his historic visit and departed for Washington.

PRIORITIES AND AGREEMENTS

So far, very few details have emerged regarding the agreements and understandings reached during the Trump–Xi summit. Evidently, both sides chose not to disclose the substance of the negotiations — at least for the time being. Donald Trump himself remained notably restrained, revealing only fragments of the discussions.

What, then, can be said with certainty? Above all, that Taiwan remains Beijing’s overriding strategic priority. Xi Jinping placed the Taiwan issue at the center of his remarks before the talks moved behind closed doors.

“The Taiwan issue is the most important issue in U.S.-China relations. If it is handled properly, bilateral relations will remain generally stable. Otherwise, clashes and even conflicts may arise between the two countries, placing the entire relationship in grave danger,” the Chinese leader warned.

Particular attention should be paid to the barely concealed warning contained in Xi’s remarks. Chinese leaders have long cautioned U.S. administrations against interfering in issues related to Taiwan, but Xi’s suggestion that the matter could ultimately lead to direct confrontation between the world’s two largest economies was among the strongest and most explicit formulations Beijing has used on the subject in recent years.

Equally notable was the fact that Chinese state media outlets published an official readout containing Xi’s remarks before the negotiations had even concluded. Such timing is highly unusual and appears to have been deliberate, underscoring the seriousness of the message Beijing intended to send to Washington.

Donald Trump, however, conspicuously avoided responding to the comments on Taiwan, both publicly and during the closed-door discussions. According to American media reports, Xi Jinping returned to the issue again during the private talks, yet Trump reportedly ignored the remarks and simply moved on to the next topic without engaging the subject. References to Taiwan are also absent from the White House communiqué summarizing the summit.

The two leaders also devoted considerable attention to the conflict surrounding Iran. China imports roughly 13 percent of its oil from Iran and nearly half of its total imported oil from the broader Persian Gulf region. For Beijing, a rapid stabilization of the situation and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz therefore carry enormous strategic importance.

That being said, according to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington did not ask Beijing for assistance on Iran, despite reports that Xi Jinping offered China’s help in resolving the crisis.

The U.S. president also announced that China had agreed to purchase 200 “large” aircraft from Boeing, although no additional details were disclosed, including which specific models Chinese airlines may be interested in acquiring.

On broader regional and international issues, Chinese state media reported that the leaders of China and the United States discussed developments in the Middle East, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and Russia’s war against Ukraine.

At this stage, the summit’s principal outcome appears to be an understanding between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to pursue what both sides described as “constructive, strategic, and stable relations” as a new framework for U.S.-China ties. If Washington and Beijing manage to implement this approach — avoiding further escalation while maintaining a degree of strategic stability — the Beijing summit may ultimately be regarded as relatively successful.

THE UKRAINIAN TRACK

As noted above, Russia’s war against Ukraine was among the issues discussed by Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Yet expecting any specific agreements — or even meaningful convergence of positions regarding a possible end to the war — would be excessively optimistic.

Ukraine is not among the central priorities of the current U.S. administration, while for the Chinese leadership the issue has long remained peripheral to Beijing’s core strategic interests. China has consistently demonstrated little willingness to take active measures, whether by reducing economic support for Russia or by pressuring the Kremlin to halt its aggression.

Moreover, Beijing continues to reap both material and geopolitical benefits from the war. China has deepened its influence across the Global South, leveraged the economic opportunities created by Russia’s growing isolation from the West, and may even view a protracted conflict as strategically advantageous, insofar as it continues to consume Western resources, attention, and political bandwidth.

At the same time, there remains a potentially positive dimension for Ukraine linked to the future trajectory of U.S.-China relations. The United States remains one of Kyiv’s key security partners, while China is Ukraine’s largest trading partner. As a result, greater stability in relations between Washington and Beijing indirectly strengthens Ukraine’s capacity to sustain its resistance against Russian aggression by reducing broader geopolitical turbulence and preserving the conditions necessary for continued international support.

It is also reasonable to expect continuity in the current pattern of China–Russia trade relations, coupled with continued caution on the part of Chinese companies regarding potential Western sanctions. For Beijing, relations with the United States remain far more important than ties with Moscow. If Washington avoids further escalation with China, Beijing will have even greater incentives to preserve stable cooperation with the United States rather than allow its broader strategic interests to become overly dependent on — or subordinated to — its partnership with Russia.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is closely — and with a degree of anxiety — monitoring communications between the American and Chinese leaderships, eager to learn the substance of their discussions. This is one reason why Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to Beijing just four days later, on May 20, in order to hear directly from Xi Jinping about the outcome and content of his conversations with Donald Trump.

In February 1972, then–U.S. President Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Mao Zedong in a visit that profoundly altered the course of modern history. The United States and China — long regarded as irreconcilable ideological adversaries — began a cautious rapprochement that ultimately reshaped the global balance of power during the Cold War and helped lay the foundations of the international economic architecture that continues to define the world today. Nixon himself later described the trip as “the week that changed the world.”

More than half a century later, Washington and Beijing are once again burdened by deep strategic distrust. Few expect any genuine partnership between the two powers. Yet history has already demonstrated that a single visit to Beijing can sometimes set in motion processes whose full consequences become apparent only years later. The central question now is whether Donald Trump’s current trip will amount merely to another attempt at negotiating a “grand bargain,” or whether it may ultimately come to be seen as the beginning of a broader transformation in the rules of the global order itself.

Volodymyr Sydorenko, Beijing

Photos via White House, fmprc.gov.cn