Trump leaves China with no agreement on thorny issues, but cites ‘very good’ talks with Xi

Trump tariffsTrump leaves China with no agreement on thorny issues, but cites ‘very good’ talks with XiPresident Donald Trump said he’s hopeful for an even “stronger” relationship with China after meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing, though no decisions were made on Iran, tariffs or Taiwan.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Thursday.Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 15, 2026, 1:20 PM EDTBy Katherine DoyleBEIJING — Though U.S. President Donald Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping “discussed almost everything,” their superpower summit here this week produced no sweeping agreements and concluded with just a handful of measurable outcomes.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Instead, each side lavished praise upon its counterpart and appeared to count the level-setting as an important step toward stabilizing the relationship.“Neither side moved on the issues that matter most,” Craig Singleton, the China program senior director and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a statement. “Technology, Taiwan, Iran, rare earths, and supply-chain dependence remain unresolved. The summit helped manage the moment, but the underlying contest now returns to the same pressure points.”Among those pressure points is Taiwan, with Xi warning of “clashes and even conflicts” with the United States over the issue if not handled “properly.” While not new, the force of Beijing’s warnings showed how sensitive the issue has become for China, with Xi framing it as the most important issue in U.S.-China relations, according to a Chinese readout of the meeting.FORSUBSCRIBERS00:0000:00American tech CEOs join Trump in China01:24Taiwan was not mentioned in Washington’s readout, however.Trump later told reporters that he discussed arms sales to Taiwan “...