BEIJING - U.S. President Donald Trump left China on Friday with no major breakthroughs on trade or tangible help from Beijing to end the Iran war, despite two days spent heaping praise on his host, Xi Jinping.

Trump's visit to America's main strategic and economic rival, the first by a U.S. president since his last trip in 2017, had aimed for concrete results to lift his sagging approval ratings before the November midterm elections. Xi will visit the U.S. in the fall at Trump's invitation, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

The summit was filled with pageantry, from goose-stepping soldiers to tours of a secret garden. But behind closed doors, Xi issued a stark warning to Trump that any mishandling of China's top concern, Taiwan, could spiral into conflict.

During a huddle with reporters on the way back to the U.S., Trump said Xi told him he opposed Taiwan's independence.

"I heard him out. I didn't make a comment ... I made no commitment either way," said Trump. He added that he will decide on a pending arms sale to Taiwan shortly, after speaking to "the person that right now is ... running Taiwan."

It was unclear if Trump was referring to Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te. A direct conversation between a sitting U.S. president and Taiwan's leader would be unprecedented in the period since Washington shifted diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei in 1979, and would likely anger China, which sees the democratically governed island as its own territory.

While Trump searched for immediate business wins, such as a deal to sell Boeing jets that did not impress investors, Xi talked up a long-term reset and pact to maintain stable trade ties with Washington, underscoring their differing priorities.

Xi pushed a new term by describing the relationship as "constructive strategic stability" – a sharp departure from the framing of "strategic competition" used by former U.S. President Joe Biden, which Beijing disliked.

"Until now, China hasn't proposed an alternative - now they have - if the U.S. side agrees, that is progress," said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

NO HELP ON IRAN

A brief U.S. summary of Thursday's talks highlighted what the White House called the leaders' shared desire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz off Iran, and Xi's interest in American oil purchases to pare its dependence on the Middle East.

But just before the leaders met for tea on Friday, China's foreign ministry issued a blunt statement that supported efforts to reach a peace deal but said the conflict should never have happened and had no reason to continue.

At Zhongnanhai, Trump said the leaders had discussed Iran and felt "very similar", though Xi did not comment. On the flight back home, Trump added that he wasn't "asking for any favors" on Iran.

"What's notable is that there's no Chinese commitment to do anything specific with regards to Iran," said Patricia Kim, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution.

BOEING SHARES SLIDE ON UNDERWHELMING DEAL

In another sign of a diminished scale of the summit, Trump's readout did not mention the broad structural reforms on which previous presidents pressed Xi.

Unlike his previous trip in 2017, Trump did not discuss "structural reforms," "global economic governance" or the "international trading system" with Xi, according to the readout.

Even the deal touted as the biggest single deliverable from the meetings underwhelmed. Boeing stock fell 4% when Trump said on Thursday that China would buy 200 Boeing (BA.N) jets, significantly fewer than the roughly 500 that sources told Reuters had been under discussion.

He later added that the order could go up to 750 planes "if they do a good job with the 200."

China and the U.S. agreed to establish a Board of Trade and Board of Investment to resolve concerns over market access for agricultural products and expand trade "under a reciprocal tariff-reduction framework," Wang said according to a statement released by his ministry.

The expected move aims to reduce tariffs on non-sensitive goods that can be traded without crossing national security red lines. Both sides were expected to identify $30 billion of goods. The agreement marks a shift away from U.S. demands that Beijing change its state-directed economic model and toward numerical trading targets in non-strategic sectors while keeping in place broad tariffs and export controls on sensitive technologies.

U.S. officials said they had agreed deals to sell farm goods, but there were scant details and no signs of a breakthrough on selling Nvidia's advanced H200 AI chips to China, despite CEO Jensen Huang's dramatic last-minute addition to the trip.

Trump left without official resolution to the rare earths supply problem that has dogged ties since China imposed export controls on the vital minerals in response to Trump's tariff barrage in April 2025.

While the leaders struck a truce last October for Washington to lower tariffs in exchange for China keeping rare earths flowing, Beijing's controls have caused shortages for U.S. chipmakers and aerospace companies.

When asked if the two sides extended the truce beyond later this year, Trump said he and Xi "did not discuss tariffs."

Such an extension would be "the most basic benchmark" for the success of the summit, said Brookings' Kim.

Xi's remarks to Trump that mishandling Taiwan could lead to conflict delivered a sharp warning during a summit that otherwise appeared friendly and relaxed.

Taiwan, 50 miles (80 km) off China's coast, has long been a flashpoint in ties, with Beijing refusing to rule out use of military force to gain control of the island and the U.S. bound by law to provide it the means of self-defense.

"U.S. policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Liz Lee, Antoni Slodkowski and Mei Mei Chu in Beijing; Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Writing by David Brunnstrom, John Geddie and David Morgan; Editing by Alistair Bell, Lincoln Feast, Clarence Fernandez and Deepa Babington)

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci Evan Vucci Reuters

Newspapers with images of Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People are displayed on the front page, at a newsstand in Beijing, China May 15, 2026. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Tingshu Wang Reuters

A man reads Global Times newspaper with an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People on the front page, at a billboard in Beijing, China May 15, 2026. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Tingshu Wang Reuters

Newspapers with images of Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People on the front page are displayed at a billboard, in Beijing, China May 15, 2026. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Tingshu Wang Reuters

President Donald Trump walks with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound, Friday, May 15, 2026, in Beijing. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS Mark Schiefelbein Reuters

People take photos from a side street as a motorcade believed to be carrying U.S. President Donald Trump drives past during his visit to China in Beijing, China, May 15, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura Go Nakamura Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump reviews the troops with the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026, during a trip focused on trade, regional security, and strengthening bilateral ties between the world’s two largest economies. Kenny Holston/Pool via REUTERS Kenny Holston Reuters

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 2:49 PM.

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