May 15 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday hailed his China trip as “incredible” and said Washington and Beijing had reached “fantastic trade deals” as his two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded in Beijing.
Speaking ahead of a lunch meeting with Xi at Zhongnanhai, the walled Communist Party leadership complex in central Beijing, Trump said the talks had yielded major progress on trade, though he did not announce any concrete agreements.
“It’s been an incredible visit,” Trump told reporters from an ornate pavilion overlooking a lake and landscaped gardens inside the compound.
“I think a lot of good has come of it. We’ve made some fantastic trade deals, really for both countries.”
Neither side has released details on the agreements, but Trump told Fox News that Beijing had committed to purchasing soybeans, liquefied natural gas and 200 Boeing aircraft.
He also said China would invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” in companies led by executives who joined him on the trip, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
In addition to trade, Trump on Friday said the two leaders “feel very similar” about the situation in Iran and the need to end the conflict.
“We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “We want the straits open.”
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of global oil supplies pass, has been largely blocked since early March following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Trump continued to tout his relationship with Xi, saying the Chinese leader had “become really a friend.”
“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to settle,” he said, without elaborating.
After the remarks, Trump and Xi continued their talks over tea and lunch in an opulent reception room at Zhongnanhai, where dishes included kung pao chicken with scallops, steamed pork and shrimp dumplings, and chocolate brownies for dessert.
China rarely hosts foreign leaders at the Communist Party compound, a former imperial garden that occupies a significant place in the history of U.S.-China relations. U.S. President Richard Nixon met Chinese leader Mao Zedong there in 1972, helping pave the way for the normalization of ties between the two countries during the Cold War.
During the meeting, Xi said the two sides had reached “important common understandings on maintaining stable economic and trade ties, expanding practical cooperation in various fields and properly addressing each other’s concerns,” according to state news agency Xinhua.
Neither side publicly addressed Taiwan on Friday, after Xi warned during Thursday’s opening talks that the self-governing island was the “most important issue” in bilateral ties and could trigger “clashes and even conflicts” if mishandled.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to bring the self-governing island of 23 million people under its control.
“What Beijing said on Taiwan is nothing new, but it’s interesting they led with it as the summit was still ongoing,” Sean King, senior vice president at New York-based Park Strategies, told UPI. “Let’s see how Trump responds — what about the pending arms sale to Taiwan?”
The Trump administration announced an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan in December 2025, including rocket systems, drones and anti-tank missiles, though delivery has yet to move forward. Trump said in February that he discussed the sale with Xi and would make a determination “pretty soon.”
After lunch, Trump headed to the airport, where he boarded Air Force One and departed at 2:41 p.m. local time after a brief departure ceremony.
The next meeting between the two leaders is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 24 at the White House, according to Trump, who extended the invitation to Xi and Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan during a state banquet on Thursday.
If the visit goes forward, it would mark Xi’s first trip to the White House since 2015 under then-President Barack Obama.