On Thursday, President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, bringing American interests on trade imbalances, Taiwan arms sales and the war in Iran, as both leaders highlighted the mutual benefit of stable U.S.-China relations. 

The main topics on the agenda were trade imbalances and tariffs. According to the White House readout, the two leaders held productive talks on strengthening economic ties between the U.S. and China, with specific focus on opening more market access for American businesses, boosting Chinese investment in U.S. industries, and increasing China’s purchases of American farm products.

The discussions aimed to build on the 2025 trade truce that had paused higher reciprocal tariffs, with the goal of rebalancing trade in a “mutually beneficial and win-win” way. Xi called the previous day’s economic team results “generally balanced and positive.”

The official U.S. summary didn’t spell out any specific tariff changes or quantify the imbalances, but reports at the time said the leaders advanced pre-summit ideas for a “Board of Trade” framework. 

That setup could cut tariffs on about $30 billion in non-sensitive goods from each side without hurting national security, while making steady progress on long-running U.S. concerns about market access and fair trade.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Trump and Xi dance around Taiwan issues

Reportedly, one of the more strained discussions centered around Taiwan, as Xi stressed that proper handling would ensure overall bilateral stability, while mishandling could lead to “clashes and even conflicts”. 

Xi also reportedly told Trump that “Taiwan independence” and cross-Strait peace are irreconcilable.

Underlying tensions also surrounded a $14 billion U.S. arms sales package to Taiwan — covering missile systems, munitions, and counter-drone equipment — which Congress had approved but the Trump administration had deliberately stalled ahead of the summit.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The White House readout of the roughly two-hour talks made no mention of Taiwan, focusing instead on trade, economic cooperation and the Iran conflict. Trump later declined to confirm whether the issue came up when asked by reporters. 

The release of Jimmy Lai

Leading up to the summit, Trump said he would urge Jimmy Lai’s release, noting that Lai caused turmoil but that he would like to see him freed. 

Trump has raised the issue in prior talks, including in Busan, as part of broader discussions on trade and Taiwan. Advocates have pressed him to make Lai’s freedom a priority in any U.S.-China agreements.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Lai is a Hong Kong media tycoon, pro-democracy activist and founder of the Apple Daily newspaper and Giordano clothing brand. 

A vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party, he was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 20 years in prison on national security charges of colluding with foreign forces in the wake of the 2019 protests. He remains in solitary confinement as a prominent political prisoner at age 78.

China's position between Iran and US 

Trump said following the Thursday talks that Xi offered to help broker an end to the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and pledged not to supply military equipment to Tehran during their summit in Beijing. 

The two leaders agreed the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of global energy and opposed any militarization or tolling of the vital waterway, according to a White House readout. Xi also expressed interest in buying more U.S. oil to reduce reliance on the strait. 

Traveling with Trump to Beijing included a mix of administration officials and business leaders, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Eric Trump (Trump Organization), and Lara Trump. 

Multiple business and tech leaders also accompanied the president including Elon Musk (Tesla/SpaceX), Tim Cook (Apple), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Larry Fink (BlackRock), Stephen Schwarzman (Blackstone), Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Dina Powell McCormick (Meta), Ryan McInerney (Visa), and others including CEOs from Goldman Sachs, Citi, Qualcomm, Mastercard, etc. (Brett Ratner, film producer, also noted in entourage).

Concluding the excursion, Rubio said on Air Force One, "I enjoy working for this president because he's willing to do what others talk about but don't do. He is willing to solve unfinished business and not leave it for the next guy." 

Amanda Head is White House correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.