Trump departs Beijing after whirlwind China visit
What you need to know
- Donald Trump's Air Force One has left Beijing for the United States
- Trump and Xi held a working lunch and a tea ceremony at Zhongnanhai, China's equivalent to the White House
- Trump said Friday that he and Xi made "fantastic trade deals" without providing details
- China has shown little public interest in getting more involved in solving the war in Iran
- Xi also suggested differences over Taiwan could put his country and the US on the path toward conflict
Welcome to DW's coverage of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing from May 13-15.
Skip next section Trump and Xi tried to stabilize relations but China remains a rival, says expert05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump and Xi tried to stabilize relations but China remains a rival, says expert
Political scientist Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook told DW that the relationship between the US and China has been characterized by economic rivalry for many years, and that's unlikely to change.
China has an interest in making sure that the US lifts sanctions, and that could potentially be a signal that could reset relations, she said.
However, little is known about the extension of the trade truce that the two superpowers reached last October.
Not much has also been announced about Chinese assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which many Asian allies rely on, she added.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmhISkip next section DW livestream: Did Xi outsmart Trump?05/15/2026May 15, 2026DW livestream: Did Xi outsmart Trump?
As US President Donald Trump concludes his high-stakes trip to China, we ask: who came out on top in the meeting between the world's two biggest superpowers — Donald Trump or Xi Jinping?
The White House says Trump delivered on his promise, calling him the "dealmaker in chief" who gets results.
Follow along as we spoke with DW's chief international editor, Richard Walker, DW correspondent in Taiwan, Rik Glauert, and political analyst Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook from the Bertelsmann Foundation.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmgDSkip next section Little known about potential deals05/15/2026May 15, 2026Little known about potential deals
US President Donald Trump said both sides made "fantastic deals" earlier today during closing remarks. But there is little known about what those deals entail.
China's Xi Jinping spoke about a positive turn in relations between the two countries.
"This visit is a historic and landmark visit. Together, we affirmed the new position of a constructive, strategic and stable China-US relationship," the Chinese president said, according to a readout from the state-run CCTV channel.
"The visit is also beneficial to promoting mutual understanding, deepening trust in each other, and increasing the well-being of the people of both countries," Xi added.
The Chinese leader said both countries should carry out the "important consensus" reached during Trump’s visit and keep the relationship on the right track.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmY7Skip next section Trump's Air Force One departs Beijing05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump's Air Force One departs Beijing
President Donald Trump has left Beijing after a high-stakes meeting with China's Xi Jinping.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmUKSkip next section Trump arrives at Beijing airport05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump arrives at Beijing airport
President Donald Trump's motorcade has arrived at the airport in Beijing as he prepares to return to Washington.
Schoolchildren dressed in some of Air Force One's light blue and white colors waved American and Chinese flags.
"Farewell, farewell," they chanted. "Warm farewell!"
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saw a smiling Trump off at the airport.
Trump turned at the top of the stairs and pumped his fist and waved before entering the aircraft. But he didn't speak with reporters before departing for home.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmTzSkip next section Trump and Xi enjoy working lunch — here's the menu05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump and Xi enjoy working lunch — here's the menu
Trump and Xi were served a wide selection of dishes, including minced codfish in seafood soup, crispy and stir-fried lobster balls, stewed beef in a bun, and steamed pork and shrimp dumplings. Plus, there was dessert, which included chocolate brownies and fruits.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmU0Skip next section Trump-Xi photo criticized over absence of women05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump-Xi photo criticized over absence of women
The carefully choreographed photo of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping seated across from each other inside the Great Hall of the People on Thursday was designed to impress.
But the photo was criticized for a conspicuous lack of women at the table, with a post on social media by Gita Gopinath, an economics professor at Harvard, having garnered many thousand likes and views.
Similarly, Trump and Xi are holding a second round of talks today with a small coterie of people who are all men.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmMGSkip next section Trump and Xi begin working lunch at Zhongnanhai05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump and Xi begin working lunch at Zhongnanhai
Trump and Xi are now at a working lunch at Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. This is the last event on the schedule before Trump returns to Washington.
The leaders earlier took a stroll through the gardens and paused for a "friendship photo." Trump told reporters that they had made "fantastic trade deals."
Xi also said he was going to send Trump some rose seeds after the US president remarked that the roses there were the most beautiful he had ever seen.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmJRSkip next section Trump says China, US struck 'fantastic deals' ahead of Friday's meeting05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump says China, US struck 'fantastic deals' ahead of Friday's meeting
Before heading Friday's meeting, China's President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump spent about 10 minutes walking the gardens of the Zhongnanhai compound, a former imperial garden that houses the offices of Chinese leaders.
"These are the most beautiful roses anyone has ever seen," Trump remarked while walking past green columns and archways.
Trump said the two leaders had struck "fantastic trade deals" without providing details.
Friday's meeting is expected to focus more on trade.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who is attending Friday's meeting, told Bloomberg TV on Friday it had not yet been decided whether to extend the US-China trade truce beyond its expiry later this year.
Towards the end of 2025, the US suspended steep tariff increases on Chinese goods while China eased export restrictions on rare earth.
Deals on Chinese purchases of farm goods, beef and Boeing aircraft have been firmed up, Greer added, according to the Reuters new agency.
He also said progress was made on establishing mechanisms to manage future trade, with both sides expected to identify $30 billion (€26 billion) of non-sensitive goods.
Xi and Trump are being joined by smaller delegations on Friday.
China's delegation includes Xie Feng, China's ambassador to the United States; Cai Qi, a director of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi; Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Ma Zhaoxu and He Lifeng, vice premier of the State Council.
As well as US Trade Representative Greer, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and the US Ambassador to China, David Perdue have joined Trump.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmGNSkip next section Xi and Trump meeting for private meeting and lunch05/15/2026May 15, 2026Xi and Trump meeting for private meeting and lunch
Dmytro Hubenko EditorChinese President Xi Jinping has received US President Donald Trump on Friday for a second and final day of talks.
Xi greeted Trump with a handshake at the gardens of the Zhongnanhai, the central leadership compound next to Beijing's Forbidden City.
The two are to take tea and have a working lunch.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmCcSkip next section Trump says Xi is 'all business'05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump says Xi is 'all business'
In an interview broadcast late on Thursday in the US, Donald Trump said he had a very "very good relationship" with China's President Xi Jinping.
"We have a very good relationship, a friendship really," Trump said in an interview conducted in China by Fox News host Sean Hannity.
"I think he’s a warm person, actually," Trump added. "But he’s all business. There’s no games. There's no talking about how the weather is."
China's role in smoothing Iran conflict still unclear
Earlier on Thursday, Trump said that Xi told him China wants to help negotiate an end to the war and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
However, there was no mention of whether China would continue to purchase Iranian oil.
China buys some 90% of Iran's oil exports, "providing tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue that supports Iran’s government budget and military activities," according to the US government's US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
In the Thursday evening Fox News interview, Trump also spoke of Iran, suggesting that hunting down Iran's enriched uranium was primarily for political optics.
"I just feel better if I got it, actually, but it's … I think, it's more for public relations than it is for anything else," Trump said.
He warned that he wouldn't be "much more patient" with Iran.
https://p.dw.com/p/5DmBQSkip next section Trump invested heavily in Apple, Nvidia shares earlier this year05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump invested heavily in Apple, Nvidia shares earlier this year
The CEOs of tech giants Apple and Nvidia are part of the business delegation accompanying US President Donald Trump in Beijing.
Trump made large investments in both companies in the first quarter of 2026, newly released financial transactions reports show.
He invested up to $7.2 million (around €6.2 million) in Apple during the first three months of 2026, according to data from the US Office of Government Ethics published on Thursday.
The exact amounts are not available as the mandatory reporting only shows approximate ranges.
The largest Apple purchase was made at the beginning of February and was valued between $1 million and $5 million.
He also made a similarly large purchase of between $1 million and $5 million in Nvidia.
Conversely, large sales, ranging from $5 million to $25 million each, involved Microsoft, Amazon and Meta.
The trades also included shares of Oracle, Bank of America, Broadcom and Goldman Sachs.
In total, the data show 3,642 reportable trades valued at between $220 million and around $750 million.
The data doesn't consistently clarify the type of security, such as whether it was a stock or a corporate bond.
Unclear who placed the trades
The filings don't make clear in what accounts the transactions took place or who placed the trades.
The president's assets are held in a trust controlled by his children, while some of the transactions in the new filings indicate that a broker acted as an agent.
The White House press office referred questions about the trades from Reuters news agency to the Trump Organization.
An attorney for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to the news agency's request for comment.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Dm88Skip next section Presence of Donald Trump's son Eric in China raises eyebrows05/15/2026May 15, 2026Presence of Donald Trump's son Eric in China raises eyebrows
Donald Trump's son Eric Trump is having a front-seat view of power during the US president's visit to China.
Eric Trump, along with his wife, Lara, posed for photos with Chinese President Xi Jinping before attending a state banquet on Thursday evening.
He was also seen chatting to Xi during a sunny afternoon visit to the Temple of Heaven.
But the younger Trump isn't a government official. Neither is he running a top US company, like Apple, Boeing or chipmaker Nvidia, whose executives have accompanied President Trump to Beijing.
Rather, as the Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, Eric runs the Trump family business alongside his brother Donald Trump Jr.
The Trump Organization has stressed that Eric is in China "in a personal capacity" in statements to several US media outlets, including The New York Times.
But as the US newspaper writes, the Trump Organization "has flirted with Chinese business deals over the years, raising the question of whether [Eric's] presence could blur the lines between government business and private enterprise."
Then there's the fact that Donald Trump lambasted Joe Biden for taking his son Hunter with him on his official plane during a trip to China in 2013 when Biden was vice president.
During his first term, Trump even called on the Chinese government to investigate the Bidens.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Dlw2Skip next section Trump defends Beijing's assessment of US as 'declining nation'05/15/2026May 15, 2026Trump defends Beijing's assessment of US as 'declining nation'
After a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, US President Donald Trump defended his Chinese counterpart's earlier assessment of the US as a "declining nation," saying it was an accurate description of the state of affairs under his predecessor, Joe Biden.
"Two years ago, we were, in fact, a Nation in decline. On that, I fully agree with President Xi!" Trump wrote Thursday on his Truth Social Platform.
Trump then proceeded to list what he regards as the achievements of his nearly year-and-a-half in office, saying that Xi congratulated him on the policies he has implemented.
Xi hosted Trump to a warm greeting ceremony early on Thursday ahead of a private meeting to address the war in Iran as well as tensions over Taiwan.
Trump expressed hopes that the US "relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before!"
https://p.dw.com/p/5DlraSkip next section Trump says China will buy 200 Boeing jets05/14/2026May 14, 2026Trump says China will buy 200 Boeing jets
China has agreed to purchase 200 "big" Boeing jets, US President Donald Trump told Fox News after a day of summitry with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"It was sort of like a statement but I think it was a commitment," Trump said, describing talks with Xi.
Ahead of the summit, US media reported on the potential for a Boeing deal. Bloomberg and other outlets reported that China was considering a deal for about 500 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, plus discussions for roughly 100 wide‑body jets (787 Dreamliner and 777X).
It was unclear from Trump's statement what aircraft the deal would entail. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg is part of the business entourage accompanying the US president in Beijing.
The US aviation giant's last China order was $37 million (€31.5 million) for 300 single and dual isle aircraft in 2017 after Trump met Xi for the first time in Beijing.
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