Five takeaways from the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing so far
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on May 14, 2026.
Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The United States and China agreed to forge a more cooperative relationship at their summit in Beijing on Thursday, in a high-stakes meeting filled with friendly gestures between two countries that have battled for years on issues ranging from intellectual property and human rights to technology and trade.
Here are five key points based on remarks made by the Chinese government and a White House official at the meeting:
1. New positioning
Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump agreed to develop a “constructive China-US relationship based on strategic stability”, according to Beijing’s official statement in English on the summit. He said Beijing would treat this as the guiding framework for the next three years and beyond.
According to the statement, Xi said strategic positioning will be guided by cooperation and “measured competition” with manageable differences, and emphasized that the framework should be translated into concrete actions.
“This points to a period of ‘managed stability’ that will last for some time,” said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Although frictions will continue, “there will be a guardrail and things will not get out of the control of the two sides almost as they will in 2025.”
2nd pre-summit meeting: ‘balanced and positive’
Trade envoys from the two countries reached “generally balanced and positive results” at a preparatory summit in South Korea on Wednesday, according to Xi. The delegation was led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice President He Lifeng.
“Both sides should work together to maintain this hard-won positive momentum,” Xi said. He said Beijing welcomes deeper U.S. trade involvement and that “China’s door to opening up will be even wider.”
The comments came as a dozen business leaders from the largest American companies, including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, attended Trump’s visit.
3. Deepening cooperation
Xi said both sides should make better use of diplomatic and military communication channels. He also called for deeper cooperation on economic and trade issues, agriculture and tourism.
Trump, Xi and their teams discussed ways to improve economic cooperation, including expanding U.S. companies’ market access to China and increasing Chinese investment in American industries, according to a White House official.
Trump also called for Beijing to continue its efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States and increase purchases of American agricultural products, according to the US official.
4. Strait of Hormuz, oil reception
The two sides also discussed the conflict in the Middle East, the crisis in Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, according to Chinese data that did not offer further details.
Trump and Xi agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to restore energy flows through the critical waterway, according to a White House official.
The official reiterated that Xi opposes the “militarization” of Beijing’s energy artery and “any effort to charge for its use.” China has also expressed interest in buying more US oil to wean itself off its dependence on Middle Eastern crude.
The official said both countries agreed that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon.
5. Taiwan: ‘the most important issue’
Xi reserved his harshest language for Taiwan, calling the issue “the most important issue in US-China relations.”
He said the risk could not be greater: “If you handle it well, the relationship will continue; if you handle it poorly, the two countries will face conflict or the risk of conflict.”
