Trump and Xi End Summit with Tea and Archives Tour, Extend Trade Truce

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up a three-day summit in Washington on Friday with tea at the White House and a visit to the National Archives, capping an event that emphasised personal diplomacy over major public breakthroughs.

The two leaders reviewed the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights during the archives tour, after sharing tea in the Red Room. Trump said American farmers would benefit from the talks but offered no specifics, while Xi described the relationship as one of "strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness and reciprocity."

A concrete outcome was the extension of a trade truce, previously set to lapse on November 10, by two months to allow further work on a broader deal. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said details of limited trade agreements reached during the visit would be released on Monday. He also said the two sides had agreed to exempt certain goods from trade disputes, including US agricultural and medical device exports to China and imports of consumer and non-sensitive goods.

Trump pointed to expanded market access for US farmers and ranchers under a bilateral trade mechanism, and both leaders identified artificial intelligence as an area for dialogue. US Ambassador to China David Perdue said the visit's main achievement was keeping the conversation going.

Trump announced on social media that he and Xi would meet twice more this year — in China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and in Miami in December at a G20 summit.

On Iran, Trump said the two had discussed the issue and that "I think we're going to do great," without elaborating. Perdue said Trump reiterated that direct or indirect support for Iran was "totally unacceptable" and received assurances China would not provide it. Beijing has denied US allegations of helping Iran's leaders in the conflict launched by Trump in February.

Taiwan remained a central concern for Xi, who pressed Trump on Thursday to handle the issue with prudence and expressed hope that Washington would oppose Taiwanese independence. The US has long said it does not support independence, and while it has no formal diplomatic ties with Taipei, it remains the island's most important international backer and is bound by law to provide means for its defence. As of Friday afternoon, Trump had said nothing substantive on Taiwan following Xi's visit. Senate Democrats criticised him on Thursday for not publicly addressing China's military pressure on Taiwan and urged immediate delivery of approved military aid and arms sales.

Tom Christensen, a geopolitics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, predicted the current positive mood would be temporary, citing disputes over technology controls, rare earth exports, agricultural trade, Iran, Russia and Taiwan. "When I look a year out from now, I expect a lot of trouble in the relationship, even on the economic front," he said.