Xi leaves Washington after talks with Trump, no breakthrough on Taiwan or tariffs
The Chinese leader's visit ended with warm language on trade and AI but no resolution on the issues that divide the two countries
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UpdateThursday, September 24, 2026 at 1:55 PM ET
The later filing describes the talks as still underway, with new detail on Xi's asks over chip exports and Taiwan arms sales, rather than the visit having ended as first reported.
A separate account of the same talks says Xi pressed Trump to ease U.S. restrictions on chip exports to China and to end U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Trump, in turn, pushed Xi for greater Chinese cooperation on ending the conflict in Iran. That account describes the two leaders as still in talks, rather than the visit having concluded.
UpdateThursday, September 24, 2026 at 1:50 PM ET
Xi also told Trump that China's market remains open to American firms and offered cooperation with Washington on narcotics enforcement, additional threads from the state dinner and smaller sessions that covered trade, security, technology and AI.
Xi Jinping left the White House after two days of meetings with Donald Trump, closing a visit built more on tone than on outcomes.
The two leaders held small-group exchanges in Washington in the days after Xi arrived, according to Xinhua. Hours before a state dinner, Xi told Trump that competition between China and the US should not be about winning or losing, and that the two countries share responsibility for managing artificial intelligence.
On the issues that have strained relations, little moved. Xi told Trump that China's position on sovereignty and territorial integrity is clear, and separately said Beijing wants Washington to oppose Taiwan independence and handle the issue with prudence. On Iran, Xi said China backs a US-Iran return to the Islamabad memorandum of understanding and voiced hope the two sides can reach agreement on the nuclear issue, a comment carried by China's state broadcaster CCTV. Trump, for his part, is weighing whether to let Chinese automakers build electric vehicles on US soil, NBC News has reported.
What the visit did not produce was any shift on the frictions that most concern investors: no agreement on Taiwan, no resolution of tariff disputes, and no public accounting of the nuclear testing concerns raised alongside the talks.