World
Warm Words at the White House, Cold Facts on Trade and Taiwan
— 3 mins read
Xi Jinping's first US visit in over a decade has been heavy on ceremony. On trade, Taiwan and AI, the two men have given away very little.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping traded compliments at a lavish White House state dinner on Thursday night, but neither leader gave much sign of progress on the issues that divide the world's two largest economies.
Trump told guests that the two countries had "different systems" but had "never gotten along better", and he raised a toast to "harmony, peace and success". Xi spoke of a "historic juncture" in relations and said the two nations must "act as responsible major countries". He said they had reached "common understanding on many issues". He did not say which.
It is Xi's first visit to the US in more than a decade and his first to the White House since 2015. He was presented with a bald eagle sculpture that Melania Trump helped design. The table was dressed in red, the Chinese colour of good fortune, and the wine was a nod to Richard Nixon's 1972 toast with Zhou Enlai. The guest list read like a roll call of American money: Tim Cook, Jensen Huang and Elon Musk were at the top table, and Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg were in the room.
The guest list read like a roll call of American money: Tim Cook, Jensen Huang and Elon Musk were at the top table, and Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg were in the room.
What is actually on the table
Trade is the one area with something to show. Before Xi landed, the two sides extended their trade truce by two months to 10 January 2027. The truce was first agreed in Busan last October. It pulled tariffs back from triple-digit levels and paused Chinese restrictions on exports of rare earths, the minerals used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets. The extension buys time, not a settlement. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said China is meeting its pledge to buy 25 million tonnes of American soybeans, but it is behind on a $17bn commitment for other farm goods and on its rare earth promises.
Taiwan is where the real tension sits. Hours before the dinner, Chinese state media reported that Xi had privately urged Washington to handle the island "with prudence". The US is legally bound to help Taiwan defend itself, but Trump has held back a $14bn arms package since May. That was when Xi warned that mishandling the issue could lead the two countries to "collide or even enter into conflict". Trump called the delay "a very good negotiating chip". Washington has not responded publicly to Xi's latest remarks.
On AI, Trump has been clear that he sees China as America's main rival. Xi's only public comment was that the technology must stay "under human control". Nothing suggests the two have agreed how.
Why it matters for Britain
Britain has its own stake in how this goes. Any lasting deal on rare earths would steady supply chains that British manufacturers depend on as well. A breakdown over Taiwan would be felt in every economy that trades with either side.
London has also been warming to Beijing. Keir Starmer visited China in January, the first British prime minister to do so in eight years, and came home with export and market access deals worth more than £4bn. Andy Burnham has kept that course since taking office. According to Beijing's account of their call on 8 September, Xi told him the two countries had "more common interests than disagreements", and Burnham committed to a "long-term and consistent strategic partnership". If Washington and Beijing grow closer, Britain's own reset looks less exposed. If they fall out, it gets harder to hold.
What happens next
Trump and Xi will have tea in the White House Red Room with their wives on Friday, then tour the National Archives before Xi leaves Washington. The next chances for a breakthrough come later in the year, at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November and the G20 in Miami in December. Both are before the truce runs out in January.
For now, the verdict from Washington is all pomp and little progress.
