Trump and Xi end three-day summit with trade truce extension

Washington, United States. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ended a three-day summit on Friday with tea at the White House and a visit to the National Archives. The visit emphasised personal diplomacy, but produced no major public breakthroughs on several contentious issues.

Trade talks

The US and China agreed to extend by two months a trade truce due to expire on November 10, giving them more time to work on a potentially broader deal. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said details of limited trade agreements reached during the visit would be released on Monday.

Greer told CNBC that the two countries had agreed to exempt some key goods from trade disputes, including US exports of agricultural products and medical devices to China, and imports of consumer and non-sensitive goods.

Trump said “our farmers are going to be happy” as a result of the talks, but gave no details. He also cited what he described as increased market access for US farmers and ranchers under a bilateral trade mechanism.

Differences remain

The summit included military flyovers, ceremonial tours and a state dinner, but left major differences over trade, artificial intelligence, Taiwan and China’s ties to Iran unresolved. Both leaders identified AI as an area for dialogue.

“America is very happy about this visit, and I’m sure China is very happy also,” Trump said. Xi said the US-China relationship had developed into a constructive one of “strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness and reciprocity.”

“In some ways, the best thing that we accomplished in this visit is to continue the conversation,” US Ambassador to China David Perdue told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Friday.

Trump said in a social media post that he and Xi would meet twice more this year: in China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and in Miami in December at a G20 summit.