Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Washington Thursday, extending the US-China trade truce by two months but making little progress on Taiwan or AI. The only concrete deals were a promise to invite 100,000 young Americans to China and a loan of two pandas to an Atlanta zoo.
The truce was due to expire in November and had paused last year's trade war by lowering US tariffs on Chinese goods and removing Beijing's export controls on rare earths vital to manufacturing. Xi's visit produced no commitments for Chinese purchases of Boeing planes or US farm produce.
Xi urged Washington to explicitly oppose Taiwan independence and, according to China's readout, told Trump to end the war with Iran through a negotiated settlement as soon as possible. The $14 billion US arms package for Taiwan remains on hold and under review, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday. On AI, Xi said the technology should always be under human control, while Trump has dismissed tech leaders' calls for regulation.
