China agrees to boost trade for U.S. beef, poultry

HONG KONG — The stakes were high and the deals were modest, but President Donald Trump may have left China last week having laid solid groundwork with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — though a number of issues could still sour ties.

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The White House released details Sunday of what the two leaders agreed to during Trump’s two-day state visit to China, including a Chinese commitment to buy at least $17 billion a year in U.S. agricultural products through 2028 and a Chinese order of planes from U.S. company Boeing, which disappointed the markets.

China is also restoring market access for U.S. beef and resuming poultry imports from U.S. states deemed free of bird flu, in addition to its soybean purchase commitments last year.

The White House said the two countries were establishing mechanisms for discussing trade and investment and that China would “address U.S. concerns” over its export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals that are crucial components of modern technology and weapons.

There was no immediate confirmation from Beijing.

And there was little sign of concrete progress on Taiwan and the Iran war, the two other issues that loomed over the talks.

The summit was ultimately less about the deals, which experts say are relatively modest, and more about the personal encounter between the two leaders — with Trump announcing in Beijing that Xi will make a reciprocal visit to the U.S. on Sept. 24.

“There is some substance, but maybe not as huge as some people expected,” said Zichen Wang, a research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a nongovernmental think tank in Beijing.

Notably, the White House announcement said Trump and Xi agreed that the world’s two biggest economies should build a “constructive relationship of strategic stability,” a new label Beijing has put on the relationship.

Experts say China hopes that description will set the tone for relations for the rest of Trump’s term.

“China wants a positive relationship with the United States, and it wants a positive description of that relationship,” Wang said Monday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong.

Trade and investment

China’s more muscular posture was evident even in its U.S. purchase commitments. It agreed to buy 200 Boeing planes, far fewer than had been expected, causing the company’s shares to fall. China also ensured its own access to U.S.-made jet engines and airplane parts.

“The Chinese paired the Boeing sales with jet engines and airplane parts, I think, because the United States has actually been weaponizing sales of jet engines to China,” Wang said.

The “cornerstone” of the U.S.-China agreement, the White House said, is the establishment of a board of trade and a board of investment.

The board of trade is a managed trade mechanism that could allow for tariffs to be reduced on some $30 billion in non-sensitive goods, while the board of investment is a forum for the two governments to discuss investment-related issues.

Wang said that despite this positive sign, he was “not very optimistic” about the prospects for Chinese investment in the U.S.

He cited the national security debate around a proposed factory in New Hampshire for Nongfu Spring, China’s biggest bottled water and beverage company.

“I can barely think of something that’s more non-sensitive than bottled water,” he said, “but even that didn’t get off the ground.”

Taiwan and Iran

Trump and Xi appeared to be talking past each other on the two geopolitical issues at the center of talks, the Beijing-claimed island of Taiwan and the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The U.S. readout of the Trump-Xi talks did not mention Taiwan, while the Chinese readout did not mention Iran, saying only that the two leaders “exchanged views on major international and regional issues including the Middle East situation,” according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.

China, which has not ruled out the use of force against Taiwan, had been hoping to extract concessions from Trump on the island, a self-ruling democracy that relies on the U.S. as its biggest international backer. During the summit, Xi warned Trump that the issue could lead to conflict if not handled properly.

While Trump administration officials have said repeatedly that U.S. policy on Taiwan is not changing, Trump said after leaving Beijing that both China and Taiwan needed to “cool down a bit” and that he was “not looking to have somebody go independent.”

He also said he considered a proposed $14 billion arms package for Taiwan a potential bargaining chip with Xi, which some experts say violates long-standing U.S. policy prohibiting consultations with Beijing on Taiwan arms sales.

Trump and Xi found some common ground on Iran, with shared opposition to Iran’s effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz and its desire to charge tolls on ships passing through the crucial trade route. Both countries are also opposed to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

But Beijing, which has close ties with Tehran, has been very critical of the Iran war.

Though Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that Trump “didn’t ask [Xi] for anything,” Trump told Fox News that Xi had offered to help.

Wang said it would be “very uncharacteristic” of Beijing to try to pressure Iran more than it already has.

Xi trip to Washington

All these discussions will continue as Trump prepares for Xi’s fall trip to Washington — a visit that Beijing, in a departure from its usual practice, has also confirmed well in advance.

Having this trip on the schedule will “have a stabilizing effect for the two countries,” Wang said. “But of course, there will be many more land mines,” he said, citing cyberattacks and technology restrictions.

Another potential land mine, Wang said, is Washington’s “aggressive pursuit” of its national interest in the Western Hemisphere, with the Trump administration seizing Nicolás Maduro in a military operation in Venezuela and putting greater pressure on Cuba.

But whereas Chinese leaders long prized Washington visits as a chance to showcase their importance on the world stage, things are different now, said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore.

“Xi has put across to the world a sense of might and parity with the United States,” Chong said. “Trump came across as needing Xi more, especially through his effusive praise for Xi which was not fully reciprocated.”