President Donald Trump traveled to Beijing for a two-day state visit — the first by an American leader since 2017. The delegation included the biggest names in American business: SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and senior executives from Meta, Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Visa, and other companies. At the last minute, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also joined the delegation. On Thursday, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held two hours of talks, followed by an official state banquet. On Friday, the two leaders shared a tea ceremony and lunch, after which the American president departed China.
Business takes center stage
Before the visit began, Trump had promised to push Xi to “open” China to American companies. Introducing the business leaders to the Chinese president, he said they had come to show their respect for China and were counting on fruitful cooperation. Sources cited by Reuters indicated that members of the delegation hope to achieve a “sufficient level of political mutual understanding” that would give their companies free access to the Chinese market. Visa and Mastercard are seeking concessions in China’s tightly regulated payments market, while Boeing is angling for a contract covering 500 aircraft for Chinese airlines.
The presence of Jensen Huang in the delegation deserves particular attention. Nvidia is the world’s most valuable company, whose business depends critically on semiconductor supplies from Taiwan and Huang himself is of Taiwanese origin. Washington hopes to secure from Beijing permission to deliver Nvidia chips to China: the United States had previously granted a special waiver to around a dozen Chinese companies to purchase the H200 chip, but those companies declined the purchases after receiving an unofficial ban from Beijing.
Taiwan
The deepest disagreements between the two countries concern the Taiwan question — and they appear to remain unresolved. On the eve of the summit, the Chinese government once again publicly condemned the sale of American weapons to the island, which Beijing regards as its own territory.
At the very start of the negotiations, Xi described the Taiwan question as the most important issue in the bilateral relationship and warned that it could lead the two countries down a “dangerous path.” According to the Chinese president, if the issue is handled properly, relations will remain broadly stable. If not, the countries could clash or even enter into conflict, placing the entire fabric of Sino-American relations in an “extremely dangerous situation.” Xi declared that Taiwanese independence and peace in the region were incompatible concepts.
Iran and the Middle East
On the Iran file, the United States appears to have secured China’s support. Ahead of the visit, Washington had hoped that China, a major trading partner of Tehran, would apply pressure on Iran to bring it to the negotiating table with Trump. Following the meeting, the White House officially announced that the two leaders had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to navigation. Xi also expressed opposition to any militarization of the strait and signaled interest in increasing purchases of American oil, in order to reduce China’s dependence on Middle Eastern suppliers. Chinese state media added that the leaders had exchanged views on the Ukrainian crisis and the situation on the Korean Peninsula, without disclosing any details.
