Jennifer Pak
FILE - Copies of the People's Daily newspaper with a front page photo and headline which reads "Xi Jinping holds talks with US President Trump", are displayed at a news stand in Beijing on May 15, 2026. Trump said he had made "fantastic trade deals" with China's Xi Jinping, as the pair met on May 15 at final talks of a superpower summit that according to the US leader has also reaped a Chinese offer to help open the Strait of Hormuz. GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A week since President Trump visited China, details are beginning to emerge on the agreements reached in Beijing, though the two sides have largely stuck to their own interpretations of those deals.
U.S. vs. China: Inside a great power rivalry Key takeaways from Trump's China trip Going into the summit, both the U.S. and China said they wanted to stabilize bilateral relations, but for different reasons. The U.S. wanted to turn down the temperature on what was an escalating trade war with China as it tries to juggle its war against Iran. Crucially, it wanted China to resume a steady flow of rare earth minerals key to the manufacturing of products including cellphones and weapons.
In the meantime, China, which is dealing with a sluggish domestic economy and disruption of its supply chains by the Iran war, wanted jet engines, semiconductors and a shift in U.S. policy on Taiwan, according to Shen Dingli, an independent international relations scholar in Shanghai.
After the summit, the readouts reflected the ways the U.S. and China stake out their positions and project their power, with Trump portraying himself as "a master negotiator" and Chinese leader Xi Jinping wanting to project China as an equal partner to the U.S., according to Gabriel Wildau, a China analyst with the Teneo advisory group.
Wildau said a comparison of the readouts reveals "minor inconsistencies" on issues such as agriculture, tariffs and rare earths. But, he says, those differences are not significant.
For example, China has not confirmed that it will purchase over $17 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products annually, as a White House statement says.
"[The Chinese] most likely want to be seen as being willing to import U.S. agricultural products based on genuine demand and genuine need, rather than committing to an arbitrary volume or value of certain commodities," Wildau said.
What Washington and Beijing are saying on key issues:
Agricultural trade
Beef and poultry
Boeing
Iran war
Rare Earths and other Critical Minerals
Taiwan
Tariffs
Trade truce:
Jasmine Ling contributed to this reporting.
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