China starts delivering on promised U.S. purchases after Trump‑Xi Beijing talks

President Donald Trump left Beijing on Friday after two days of talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that produced no signed agreements but did produce a narrower, more practical claim from Washington: China has begun moving on promised U.S. purchases. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said after the summit that Washington expected “double-digit billions” of dollars in Chinese purchases of American agricultural goods, and he pointed to aircraft orders as another area of follow-through. Xi, meeting U.S. executives who traveled with Trump, used the visit to tell them China’s door would “open wider.” The summit ended with both governments stressing stability and commercial cooperation while leaving the harder disputes — Taiwan, technology controls and wider strategic rivalry — unresolved. ### If there was no big deal, what exactly did Washington say it got? Jamieson Greer said on Friday that the United States expected China to commit to “double-digit billion purchases of ags” each year over the next three years, describing that as broader than soybeans alone. Greer also referred to a 25 million metric ton annual soybean deal agreed last October, framing the new commitments as an expansion rather than a fresh reset. (money.usnews.com) The New York Times reported that U.S. officials said China had already started fulfilling promises to expand purchases of American farm goods and airplanes. That matters because the Beijing meeting ended without the kind of formal communique or tariff bargain that would normally define a trade breakthrough. ### What did Xi offer American companies in Beijing? Xi Jinping told U.S. business leaders traveling with Trump that China’s door to business would “open wider,” according to Xinhua as cited by CNBC. (money.usnews.com) Xi said U.S. companies were deeply involved in China’s reform and opening up, and that both sides had benefited. Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Jensen Huang were among the executives in the delegation, CNBC reported. (nytimes.com) A White House statement cited by CNBC said the two sides discussed expanding market access for American businesses in China and increasing Chinese investment in U.S. industries. ### Why are farm goods and planes at the center of this? Agricultural exports are one of the fastest ways for Beijing to show visible movement without reopening the most contentious parts of the economic relationship. (cnbc.com) Soybeans have long been the largest single U.S. farm export to China, and aircraft purchases carry the same political advantage: they are large, measurable and easy for both governments to present as evidence of cooperation. The White House and Chinese readouts also emphasized other commercial areas such as tourism, energy and broader trade cooperation. CNBC reported that China expressed interest in buying more U.S. oil, while Xi called for deeper cooperation in economic and trade issues, agriculture and tourism. ### What stayed unresolved after the pageantry? (money.usnews.com) Xi used the summit to warn Trump that Taiwan remained “the most important issue” in the bilateral relationship, according to Xinhua’s account cited by CNBC. The two sides also continued to face disputes over advanced technology, including U.S. restrictions on chip exports to China and Chinese efforts to secure access to high-end semiconductors. (cnbc.com) The New York Times said the leaders emphasized stability but announced no major breakthroughs on trade, Taiwan or the war in Iran. The Associated Press similarly reported that Trump and Xi claimed progress in stabilizing ties even as major differences remained. ### So what should readers watch next? The next test is not another banquet or leader statement but whether purchase numbers appear in official readouts and trade data. (cnbc.com) Greer’s comments point to farm commitments spread over three years, which means the first evidence should come through follow-up statements from the White House, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, China’s commerce authorities or Xinhua. (nytimes.com) May 15 was the end of the Beijing summit, not the end of the negotiation. The officials to watch next are Greer on the U.S. side and Vice Premier He Lifeng on the Chinese side, who CNBC said led the preparatory trade contacts before Trump and Xi met in Beijing. (cnbc.com) (money.usnews.com)