Trump-Xi Summit: What Wasn't Announced, and Other Surprises

U.S. President Donald Trump had plenty of praise for China and his counterpart Xi Jinping following a two-day visit, during which the pair discussed a few high-interest topics-but what wasn’t said, of course, speaks volumes about the state of play between the two most powerful nations on the planet.

The high-stakes summit occurred as the U.S. and Iran remain locked in a stagnating negotiation over the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Iran war, launched by a joint U.S.-Israel force on February 28. China relies heavily on oil shipping through the strait, which comprises around 40 percent of its total oil imports.

So, Trump and Xi discussed Iran and the need to keep the Strait open, and they discussed various trade deals.

Ultimately, each leader took home a symbolic win, and further details and deals may still unfold over the coming days, but as the two leaders return to their normal schedules, some things remain undiscussed or open for future consideration.

Trump Gives No Commitments on Taiwan

China had marked Taiwan as the most important issue to discuss, and Xi warned Trump about the dangers of supporting the island. Beijing views the island as a breakaway province that must eventually rejoin the greater nation, and Xi told Trump that the two nations could eventually clash over the matter.

Notably, however, Xi did not publicly ask Trump to stop arming Taiwan, as he did with Joe Biden in 2022 during a sidelines meeting at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Similarly, China had softened its language from the subsequent 2023 meeting in San Francisco, during which Xi told Biden that reunification was “unstoppable.”

Ahead of Trump’s visit, Beijing doubled down on its position, with the Chinese foreign ministry saying its “firm opposition” to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan is “consistent and clear,” and a senior Chinese official said Beijing objected to “any form of military ties” between Washington and Taipei.

The Trump administration in December last year authorized an $11 billion weapons package for Taipei, which has yet to move forward, and lawmakers approved a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan in January, which Trump must formally send to Congress before it, too, can move forward, according to the Associated Press.

When asked about discussions over Taiwan, Trump told reporters that he “heard [Xi] out” and “didn’t make a comment.”

“I made no commitment either way,” Trump said, adding that he would decide on the pending arms sale to Taiwan after speaking to “the person that right now is … running Taiwan.”

China Omits Iran Talks in Summit Readout

Trump touted alignment with Beijing on Iran, saying during his visit to Zhongnanhai that China and the U.S. “feel very similar on Iran. We want that to end. We don't want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the strait open."

Xi did not correct Trump, and the foreign ministry statement on the issue stopped short of assigning any blame for the conflict to the U.S., nor did it address the blockade of Iranian ports during the ongoing ceasefire-none of which is novel.

China’s decision to exclude the issue from its readout and add nothing to Trump’s own statements also means there has been no public commitment from Xi that Beijing would try to influence Iran or take a direct hand in negotiations to bring a formal end to the conflict.

Trump also claimed that China agreed not to supply Iran with any military equipment, but the contours of that agreement remain completely vague.

“We have yet to see what steps Beijing will take going forward, whether they will limit the kind of assistance that they’re given to Iran and how Beijing will respond, based on whether this ceasefire holds between the United States and Iran,” Bonnie Glaser, an American foreign policy analyst currently serving as managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, told Newsweek.

Issues Not Yet Mentioned By Either Side: Rare Earth Metals, Panama, Etc.

The visit, which lasted only two days, did not leave much room for the two sides to discuss every issue between them, which left some key matters unresolved-as far as is publicly known.

Rare Earth Metals

Chief among these concerns is the rare earth metals market, in which China has overwhelming dominance bordering on a monopoly: Beijing controls an estimated 70 percent of the world’s supply and roughly 90 percent of global processing capacity. This near-total control has been seen as a strength, while some experts warned it could accelerate the move towards alternatives.

Neither readout discussed the matter at all, which would surprise some, as the U.S. faces a shortage it is trying to cover by expanding domestic mining, which is a capital-intensive, environmentally damaging process.

The two leaders struck a deal last October for the U.S. to lower tariffs in exchange for China agreeing to continue supplying rare earths, but little has been discussed in the way of advancements for that deal. When asked about trade deals, Trump only said that they “did not discuss tariffs.”

Chip Manufacturing

The shortage has led to consequent shortages for chip manufacturing and aerospace development, according to Reuters.

Nothing has been publicly expressed regarding crossover deals for Nvidia to supply chips to China, despite CEO Jensen Huang joining the trip.

Panama Canal

Additionally, nothing was mentioned on the economic tug-of-war over key trading routes, such as the Panama Canal, which the U.S. and China have been fighting over during the past year.

Earlier this month, five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean joined the U.S. in issuing a joint statement regarding China’s “targeted economic pressure and the recent actions that have affected Panama-flagged vessels.”

China’s decision to ramp up detentions of Panamanian ships followed the Central American nation’s decision to cancel leases for ports near the canal that Hong Kong-based CK Hutchinson had been operating.

Trump has repeatedly discussed his desire to take control of the canal, through which upwards of 13,000 ships-around five to six percent of global trade – pass each year. Trump has claimed that China “controls” the canal, and he made it a priority to wrest control of the trade route back under U.S. control, citing the Monroe Doctrine-cheekily renamed the “Donroe Doctrine”-as the guiding principle for the administration’s influence throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The Panamanian Supreme Court ruled that the 25-year extensions on ports at either end of the canal, controlled by CK Hutchinson, were unconstitutional and vacated them, handing Trump a win in his fight for control, and China has made little public statement on the matter since the ruling, even during Trump’s visit.

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 10:40 AM.