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“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve,” Trump added, without elaborating.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said Xi had reiterated his opposition to Taiwan’s independence.

“I heard him out. I didn’t make a comment ... I made no commitment either way,” Trump said. He added he would soon decide on a pending arms sale to Taiwan after speaking with “the person that right now is ... running Taiwan”.

The leaders had been expected to discuss extending the one-year tariff truce that halted their bruising 2025 trade war during their last meeting in October.

But Trump later said the issue “wasn’t brought up”.

The remarks were Trump’s first unscripted comments after two days in Beijing, during which he unusually restrained himself, largely limiting his public remarks to praising Xi’s warmth and stature.

While Trump sought immediate business wins -- such as a Boeing deal that failed to impress investors -- Xi promoted a long-term reset and a pact to maintain stable trade ties with Washington, underscoring the two sides’ differing priorities.

Xi described the relationship as one of “constructive strategic stability” -- a sharp shift from the “strategic competition” framework used by former US president Joe Biden, which Beijing disliked.

“Until now, China hasn’t proposed an alternative -- now they have. If the US side agrees, that is progress,” said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

A brief US summary of Thursday’s talks highlighted what the White House called the leaders’ shared desire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and Xi’s interest in buying American oil to reduce China’s dependence on Middle Eastern supplies.

But just before the leaders met for tea yesterday, China’s foreign ministry issued a blunt statement expressing frustration over the war.

“This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue,” the ministry said, adding that China supported efforts to reach a peace deal in a war that has disrupted energy supplies and the global economy.

At Zhongnanhai, Trump said he and Xi had discussed Iran and held “very similar” views, though Xi made no public comment. On the flight home, Trump added that he was not “asking for any favours” on Iran.

Still, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had urged Beijing to use its leverage with Tehran to help secure a deal. Analysts, however, doubt Xi is willing to pressure Iran heavily or halt support for its military, given Tehran’s strategic value to Beijing as a counterweight to Washington.

“What’s notable is that there’s no Chinese commitment to do anything specific with regards to Iran,” said Patricia Kim, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution.

In another sign of the summit’s limited scope, Trump’s readout made no mention of the sweeping structural reforms previous US presidents had pressed Xi to undertake.

Unlike during his 2017 visit, Trump did not discuss “structural reforms”, “global economic governance” or the “international trading system”, according to the readout.

Boeing shares fell 4 percent after Trump said on Thursday that China would buy 200 Boeing jets -- far fewer than the roughly 500 aircraft Reuters sources had said were under discussion.

Trump later suggested the order could rise to 750 aircraft “if they do a good job with the 200”.

US officials said the two sides had agreed on farm export deals and made progress on mechanisms to manage future trade, with both expected to identify $30 billion in non-sensitive goods.

But details remained scarce, and there was no sign of a breakthrough on sales of Nvidia’s advanced H200 AI chips to China, despite CEO Jensen Huang’s late addition to the delegation.

Trump also left without resolving the rare earths dispute that has strained ties since China imposed export controls on the critical minerals in response to Trump’s tariff offensive in April 2025.

Although both sides reached a truce last October under which Washington lowered tariffs in exchange for continued Chinese rare earth exports, Beijing’s controls have still caused shortages for US chipmakers and aerospace firms.

Asked whether the tariff truce would be extended beyond this year, Trump said he and Xi “did not discuss tariffs”.

Such an extension would have been “the most basic benchmark” for judging the summit a success, Patricia Kim said.

Xi’s warning that mishandling Taiwan -- the democratically governed island Beijing claims as its own -- could lead to conflict injected a sharp note into an otherwise cordial summit.

Taiwan, just 80 km off China’s coast, has long been a flashpoint in US-China ties. Beijing has refused to rule out using force to take control of the island, while US law requires Washington to provide Taiwan with means of self-defence.

“US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the United States for its support.