Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met at the White House for high-stakes talks spanning trade, Taiwan and artificial intelligence — and emerged with an agreement to extend their trade truce by two months, even as significant disputes between the world’s two largest economies remain unresolved.

The meeting, framed by Trump’s ‘let’s race, not wrestle’ line, offered a window into how the two leaders are managing a rivalry that shapes everything from supply chains to semiconductor policy.

Trade truce gets breathing room

The headline outcome was the two-month extension of the trade truce, giving negotiators more time to work through tariff and market-access disputes that have rattled businesses on both sides. The extension averts an immediate escalation — but it is a pause, not a peace deal, and the underlying disagreements over trade imbalances and industrial policy remain wide.

For markets and manufacturers, the extension is welcome news. Two months of relative stability is far better than a renewed tariff spiral, even if nobody expects the deeper issues to be resolved by the deadline.

Taiwan and AI on the table

Taiwan featured prominently, as it does in every US-China engagement — Washington’s support for the island and Beijing’s sovereignty claims remain fundamentally at odds. On artificial intelligence, the two sides are both cooperating in rhetoric and competing in practice, with export controls on advanced chips remaining a major friction point.

The talks underscored that the US-China relationship is now managed rivalry: dialogue continues even as competition hardens across technology, security and influence.

Five takeaways

First, both leaders want stability — neither side can afford an economic rupture right now. Second, the truce extension buys time but resolves nothing. Third, Taiwan remains the issue most capable of derailing everything. Fourth, AI and chip controls are the new front line of the rivalry. And fifth, personal diplomacy between Trump and Xi still matters — summits like this one set the tone that negotiators must work within.

Whether the next two months produce a durable agreement or just another deadline will define the economic weather for the rest of the year.