Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping discussed expanding bilateral trade in agriculture and energy — including oil and liquefied natural gas — during their high-stakes summit in Beijing on Thursday, according to the United States, as the two leaders sought to put a floor under a relationship battered by more than a year of tariff warfare and geopolitical friction.
The White House had told reporters ahead of the summit that discussions would likely touch on starting a US-China Board of Trade and a US-China Board of Investment, with Trump expected to push China to buy more US agricultural goods and aircraft. The Trump administration wants to show it has brought fairness and reciprocity to the economic relationship, with a particular emphasis on purchases that will ripple through the economy in key US sectors, including agriculture, ahead of the November midterm elections.
US officials said China was expected to announce purchases related to Boeing aircraft, American agriculture and energy at the summit, with plans for a Board of Trade and Board of Investment also set to be formally announced, though officials cautioned both mechanisms would need further work before becoming operational.
Energy trade sits at the centre of the commercial discussion. Chinese imports of US oil and LNG were worth approximately $8.4 billion in 2024, the year before Trump’s second term began, but have been largely halted by tariffs imposed during the trade war. China has not imported any US oil since May 2025 due to a 20% import tariff, offsetting that shortfall with higher shipments from Canada and Brazil.
The Strait of Hormuz crisis has dramatically altered Beijing’s calculus. Faced with the near-closure of the strait following the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, China’s most rational response has been to diversify procurement sources, and nearly 600,000 barrels per day of US crude oil were loaded onto tankers bound for China in April 2026, according to Kpler data. A Chinese commentator cited in regional media noted that while the US is China’s trade rival, it does have sufficient energy supplies, and supply security has become more important than trade politics.
Trump was expected to ask Xi to resume purchases of US oil and LNG, though analysts at the Council on Foreign Relations cautioned that any promises Xi makes are likely to be more show than substance, given that China’s energy strategy is moving in the direction of electrification and diversification rather than increased dependence on American fossil fuels.
On agriculture, the pressure is acute. As part of the trade truce reached during US-China talks in South Korea, China had already agreed to buy more US agricultural products including soybeans, while Washington rolled back some tariffs. Recognising China’s failure to follow through on previous purchase commitments from the 2020 Phase One trade deal, the president was set to announce the creation of a Board of Trade comprising senior officials from both countries to oversee implementation — aiming to demonstrate that this time will be different.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and Cargill CEO Brian Sikes were among the more than seventeen executives who travelled with Trump to Beijing, underscoring the significance Washington attached to securing concrete commercial commitments from China in the aviation and agricultural sectors.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said following the initial round of talks that the two sides’ economic and trade teams produced “generally balanced and positive outcomes,” calling it “good news for the people of the two countries and the world.”
Trump himself was characteristically upbeat. Before departing for the Temple of Heaven following the session, Trump told reporters the talks had been “great” and that the US was eager to do business with China, saying “we’re going to have a fantastic future together.”
The broader assessment from analysts, however, was one of a temporary trade truce with no real structural breakthroughs — with one Atlantic Council expert characterising the meeting as exactly that, even as Trump rated the encounter a “twelve” on a scale of one to ten. Whether Beijing translates expressions of goodwill into binding and verifiable purchase commitments remains the central question, with US midterm elections in November adding urgency to Washington’s need for visible economic wins.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Market conditions are subject to change. Please consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.