Beijing/Hong Kong —
When the wheels of Air Force One lifted from Beijing on Friday, US President Donald Trump was coming to the end of a three-day visit with many questions left over about what exactly he had agreed to with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Over the weekend, statements from both sides began to unravel the outcome of talks aimed primarily at resetting the tone between the world’s economic powers after a difficult year that brought the two countries to the brink of decoupling.
The United States and China are now preparing to establish two new institutions, the Trade Commission and the Investment Commission, to manage their economic relations, a statement from the White House and China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed on Sunday.
The White House also announced that China will purchase at least $17 billion in U.S. agricultural products annually and an initial purchase of 200 U.S.-made Boeing aircraft.
A Chinese government statement did not directly confirm those agreements, but said the two sides had “facilitated the expansion of two-way trade” in agricultural products and made arrangements for China’s procurement of U.S.-made aircraft.
Both announcements lacked specifics and did not result in significant progress in rebalancing trade.
But they also reinforce the signals that President Trump and Xi Jinping gave during their meeting that they want to avoid instability and increase cooperation, and put their rivalry in a more predictable position.
The two countries were locked in a tit-for-tat trade war last year that disrupted supply chains involving strategically important rare earths, in which the Chinese government has a near-monopoly in refining.
Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump agreed to a one-year truce during their meeting in October last year, and their latest summit set new goals for their relationship. It is about achieving what both sides call “a constructive relationship of strategic stability.”
The results published so far also highlight situations where sunlight and friction still exist. There is also little sign of how they will work together on one of the most vexing issues: technology.
Beijing also called the current results “preliminary” and made clear that negotiators have more work to finalize in the coming weeks and months.
The main maximum announced by the White House after the meeting was $17 billion, the lowest amount Washington announced that China had agreed to buy U.S. agricultural products every year until 2028.
The $17 billion will be paid in addition to a soybean purchase commitment made by the Chinese government in October 2025 during a summit between the two leaders in South Korea that led to a trade ceasefire.
This level of purchases is a significant increase from last year, when the U.S. exported just $8.4 billion in agricultural products to China, according to U.S. government data. But it’s not far from the level it was in 2024, the last year of the Biden administration and before President Trump’s tariff war.
The $17 billion agreement to buy U.S. agricultural products, combined with the existing commitment to buy 25 million tons of soybeans, is worth about $27 billion a year, according to CNN calculations based on the price of soybeans exported to China last year. That’s slightly more than the $24.4 billion worth of U.S. agricultural exports to China in 2024, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
A White House fact sheet provided no further details about what it called China’s agreement for an “initial purchase” of 200 Boeing aircraft, and the US aerospace giant has yet to publicly confirm it.
China’s Ministry of Commerce only confirmed the deal for the aircraft procurement and subsequent Chinese supply of aircraft engines, a technology in which China still lags behind the United States.
The two sides also pointed to reducing barriers to trade in other agricultural products, while the Chinese government said it would promote the expansion of agricultural trade through “mutual tariff reductions” and other means.
Tariffs and the “Trade Commission”
Conspicuously absent from the White House’s recent summary of talks was any mention of “tariff cuts.” President Trump told reporters that he did not discuss the tariff issue with Xi.
Last year’s U.S. tariffs sparked a trade war between the two countries, which was calmed by negotiations and a subsequent ceasefire.
However, this problem still persists. The United States is currently investigating whether to impose additional tariffs on certain goods from China and other countries after the Supreme Court struck down some of the Trump administration’s existing taxes.
It remains unclear how and whether the newly announced “Trade Commission” will engage in these matters, and the details are still hazy.
China’s Ministry of Commerce has set up a “Trade Commission” to discuss not only issues such as tariff reductions, but also concerns. The two countries announced that they had reached an “agreement in principle” to mutually reduce tariffs on certain products.
CNN analyzes key points as President Trump and Xi’s summit meeting concludes
In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation that aired Sunday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the council is a “formal way” for the two governments to discuss the numerous tariffs, import controls, export controls and non-tariff barriers that affect trade between the two countries.
“We are thinking about how to manage the economic relationship between the United States and China. These two economies are very different, and we are focused on trade in non-sensitive goods,” Greer said of the board, noting that “non-sensitive goods” could include agricultural products, energy products, Boeing planes, medical equipment and more.
He added that the investment committee is a means to “resolve any issues that arise between the two countries.”
Over the weekend, Chinese state media suggested the board would reduce miscalculations and improve trade and investment stability, with experts and commentators echoing similar views.
Another question is how the two sides will deal with another thorny issue: technological rivalry. China has long urged the United States to lift restrictions on exports of high-tech products, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, to China.
In its fact sheet, the White House gave a nod to another topic widely seen as bringing the U.S. to the negotiating table last year: critical minerals.
China said it would “address U.S. concerns” about supply chain shortages for rare earths and other critical minerals, as well as restrictions on sales of related processing equipment and technology.
The Chinese government has agreed to postpone implementation of some of its comprehensive regulations on rare earths until October, but the industry continues to struggle with supply shortages.
The Chinese government’s statement does not explicitly mention these issues.
However, he said both countries would continue to “implement the outcomes” of previous talks.
