Trade War

Newsletter 304 - May 17, 2026

Welcome to the 304th edition of Trade War.

State visit to China ends with few deliverables but much pageantry. Trump touts “fantastic trade deals” but offers few specifics. And order for 200 Boeing airplanes disappoints market.

Chip giant Nvidia still may not get green light from Beijing to sell H200 semiconductors. And China stiffs US on requests for help on Iran war.

Xi Jinping threatens US on Taiwan policy. Trump says he views Taiwan arms sales as a “bargaining chip” with China. And why does the American president gush like a smitten teenager when he talks about China’s leader?

Notable/In depth ~

• My takeaways from Trump’s trip to China as shared with NBC

• Steady flow of leaders to China part of new “tribute system,” says Ray Dalio

• Trump’s Board of Trade is a ‘huge victory’ for Beijing

What came out of Trump’s China visit?

What came out of Trump’s China visit including his summit with Xi Jinping? First, it was notable as the first visit by a U.S. president to China in almost ten years. And the Chinese president has committed to visiting the U.S. later this fall.

But while both sides hailed the visit, with Trump saying the talks were “very successful,” and Xi calling it a “historic and landmark” visit, in reality, it doesn’t appear as if a lot was accomplished.

A business summit with 30 US CEOs

Clearly a top priority for Trump was to secure big deals for American business in China. That was obvious from the get-go when Trump invited some 30 American CEOs including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook. and the Boeing CEO and President Kelly Ortberg, to join him on the China trip.

According to the very brief official U.S. readout of the Trump-Xi meeting, the two leaders discussed ways to “enhance economic cooperation,” “expand market access for American businesses into China,” and “[increase] Chinese investment into [U.S.] industries.”

Trump said to Xi that U.S. priorities include seeing increased Chinese purchases of American agricultural products and, according to the U.S. readout, China’s president expressed interest in purchasing more American oil, noting that that would help reduce dependence on energy imports that have to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

The readout also noted that the heads of “many of the United States’ largest companies” joined for a “portion of the meeting”—so America’s biggest corporate bosses were literally sitting in the room during the Trump-Xi meeting, a fact that they likely hoped would translate into lucrative China deals for their businesses.

China to “open door wider”

By contrast, a report from the official Chinese news agency Xinhua spoke in broad terms with little specificity, and said nothing about plans to purchase American oil.

In his meeting with Trump, Xi described U.S.-China economic ties as “mutually beneficial and win-win in nature,” and said that China will “open its door wider,” noting that “American companies are [already] deeply involved in China’s reform and opening,” Xinhua reported.

Xi also called for expanding cooperation in areas including agriculture, health, law enforcement, “people-to-people ties” and tourism.

Trump: “Some fantastic trade deals”

In a pre-recorded interview with Fox News that aired on Thursday, the American president said that China was interested in investing “hundreds of billions of dollars” into deals with the American companies whose CEOS joined him on the trip.

And on Air Force One flying back to the U.S. from China on Friday, Trump told reporters that the U.S. “made some fantastic trade deals, great for both countries,” but provided little detail on what they might be.