Sitting beside Xi in Beijing\u2019s Zhongnanhai leadership compound, Trump also said:<\/p>\n
double quotation markWe did discuss Iran. We feel very similar about [how] we want it to end. We don\u2019t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the strait open.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said that \u201cwe want them to get it ended because it\u2019s a crazy thing there\u201d.<\/p>\n
Updated at\u00a000.19 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Donald Trump has left China after a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping that failed to live up to the hype.<\/p>\n What will be remembered from this trip is Xi\u2019s dark warning of \u201cclashes and even conflicts\u201d with the US if the status of Taiwan is not handled as he sees fit – and Trump\u2019s failure to push back in even a subtle way.<\/p>\n Indeed, past US presidents have come to China<\/a> with an approach reminiscent of Britain\u2019s King Charles III\u2019s recent visit to Washington: gracious and diplomatic but making some coded points about western democracy that were undeniable to those paying attention.<\/p>\n But Trump, a would-be strongman, crumbled in the presence of the real thing and was deferential throughout, using the word \u201cbeautiful\u201d over and over. The only upside is that he did not alienate his hosts or blow up their fragile trade truce.<\/p>\n Trump achieved underwhelming deals for China to buy US oil, soybeans and 200 Boeing aircraft and claims to have agreed with Xi that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon – hardly a major revelation. The presence of his son Eric, who runs the family business, smacked of corruption, and it was not entirely clear what the accompanying tech titans achieved apart from Elon Musk gurning for the cameras.<\/p>\n Trump now returns to a world of domestic pain in the US, with his brief China vacation soon to be forgotten. But the symbolism for Xi and the watching world was unmistakable: a rising power in the east and a declining one in the west.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump departs Beijing after talks with Xi<\/p>\n Trump has now boarded Air Force One at Beijing Airport after spending around two hours in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound speaking and speaking privately with Xi Jinping<\/a>.<\/p>\n The president was accompanied to the airport by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi where a red carpet to awaited him, and sent off by dozens of schoolchildren, who waved American and Chinese flags and chanted \u201cfarewell\u201d in unison.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump reacts as he walks towards Air Force One at Beijing Capital International Airport. Photograph: Evan Vucci\/Reuters Photograph: Evan Vucci\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.49 EDT<\/p>\n Summary<\/p>\n In case you\u2019re just joining us, here\u2019s a recap of the day\u2019s events as Donald Trump<\/a> and Xi Jinping wrap up the second and final day of talks in their much-anticipated two-day summit. It\u2019s 2pm in Beijing.<\/p>\n The US president said \u201ca lot of good\u201d came from his China<\/a> visit and \u201cwe\u2019ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn\u2019t have been able to solve\u201d. \u201cWe\u2019ve made some fantastic trade deals for both countries,\u201d Trump said while sitting next to Xi in Beijing\u2019s Zhongnanhai leadership compound, where they were to hold their final talks of the summit.<\/p>\n Trump also said: \u201cWe did discuss Iran. We feel very similar about [how] we want it to end. We don\u2019t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the strait open.\u201d<\/p>\n Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in the walled-off Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing on Friday. Photograph: Evan Vucci\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US policy on Taiwan had \u201cnot changed\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s been pretty consistent across multiple presidential administrations, and remains consistent now,\u201d he told NBC News.<\/p>\n The White House said Trump and Xi had agreed during their talks on the need to keep the strait of Hormuz open. Trump said separately that his patience with Iran was running out, as a ship was reportedly seized by Iran<\/a> off the United Arab Emirates. \u201cI am not going to be much more patient,\u201d Trump told Fox News. \u201cThey should make a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also said hunting down Iran\u2019s enriched uranium was primarily for political optics, after Israel demanded it as a goal. \u201cI just feel better if I got it, actually, but it\u2019s \u2013 I think, it\u2019s more for public relations than it is for anything else,\u201d Trump told Fox News from China.<\/p>\n US trade representative Jamieson Greer told Bloomberg TV<\/a> the US believed China was being \u201cvery pragmatic\u201d in respect to its involvement with Iran, and that he was confident Beijing would do whatever it could to limit material support for Tehran.<\/p>\n Greer also said an agreement for double-digit billions of dollars in agriculture sales to China was expected after the Beijing summit. Asked by Bloomberg if the year-long trade truce with China expiring this October would be extended as a result of the Beijing summit, he said: \u201cWe\u2019ll see about that … there\u2019s certainly a willingness on both sides that \u2013 if this continues to work out well for each country \u2013 to continue that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The US is hoping for a positive response from China on Washington\u2019s appeals for the release of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai<\/a> and others, Marco Rubio told NBC.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.38 EDT<\/p>\n Asian stocks mostly retreated on Friday as investors watched for developments from the Trump-Xi summit and the Iran war.<\/p>\n Tokyo\u2019s Nikkei 225 fell 1.2% after rising earlier in the day. South Korea\u2019s Kospi lost 3.2%, Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng was down 0.9%, the Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.1% and Australia\u2019s S+P\/ASX 200 dipped 0.1%.<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s Taiex traded 0.5% lower and India\u2019s Sensex was up 0.1%.<\/p>\n While there is optimism over US-China relations, some analysts are suggesting any deals should be viewed cautiously, the AP reports.<\/p>\n \u201cHeadline deals should be looked at with a healthy degree of scepticism,\u201d wrote Leahy Fahy and Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economists at Capital Economics, in a Friday note.<\/p>\n A number of the promised projects and investments that came out of US-China deals from Donald Trump\u2019s last China visit in 2017 did not end up materialising, they said, as tensions between Washington and Beijing elevated rapidly during the few years after that.<\/p>\n Oil prices climbed early on Friday amid the stalled US-Iran talks over the war, with brent crude \u2013 the international standard \u2013 1.3% higher at $107.06 per barrel.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.58 EDT<\/p>\n How Trump is spending last hours of the summit Donald Trump\u2019s final hours in Beijing are being spent in Xi Jinping\u2019s private residence, a secretive site near the Forbidden City that few foreigners \u2013 or even locals \u2013 will ever get a glimpse of.<\/p>\n The US president will have lunch there with Xi before leaving Beijing in the early afternoon, less than 48 hours after he landed.<\/p>\n Xi and Trump during a a tour of the Zhongnanhai gardens. Photograph: China Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n At a busy intersection near Trump\u2019s hotel, the crowds that gathered to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade were thinner on Friday morning than on Thursday evening, with the heavy police presence encouraging people not to loiter. Many grumbled about the inconvenience caused by the repeated road closures.<\/p>\n Asked for their views on Trump, the word that came up again and again from Beijingers was \u201cunpredictable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he says isn\u2019t necessarily what it means,\u201d said one Trump-watcher, who declined to give his name.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a002.05 EDT<\/p>\n As Trump and Xi hold their final talks in Beijing, the White House has shared the list of participants for the meetings.<\/p>\n Trump is joined by David Purdue, the US ambassador to China; secretary of state Marco Rubio; treasury secretary Scott Bessent; defense secretary Pete Hegseth and US trade representative Jamieson Greer.<\/p>\n Xi is joined by Xie Feng, China\u2019s ambassador to the US; Cai Qi, a director of the central committee of the Communist party of China; foreign affairs minister Wang Yi; deputy foreign affairs minister Ma Zhaoxu; and He Lifeng, vice-premier of the state council.<\/p>\n Trump and Xi after visiting Zhongnanhai gardens. Photograph: China Pool\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.17 EDT<\/p>\n According to the Associated Press, Donald Trump did something highly unusual for him over the two days of meetings with Xi: he held his tongue in front of the media.<\/p>\n Trump relishes taking reporters\u2019 questions, often doing so nearly every day in the US.<\/p>\n But Xi, like most China\u2019s senior leadership, refrains from press conferences.<\/p>\n Trump and Xi tour the Zhongnanhai leadership compound. Photograph: China Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n In what might have been deference to Xi, Trump didn\u2019t answer questions when reporters asked them while the pair toured the Temple of Heaven on Thursday.<\/p>\n And he didn\u2019t do so again on Friday while walking with Xi at Zhongnanhai.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.21 EDT<\/p>\n Trump says he ‘won’t be much more patient’ with Iran<\/p>\n Returning now to Trump\u2019s earlier comments on Iran, the US president said his patience with Iran was running out after he discussed the war with Xi Jinping<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n It came as a ship was reportedly seized by Iranian personnel<\/a> off the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n The White House said Trump and Xi had agreed during their summit talks on the need to keep the strait of Hormuz open.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not going to be much more patient,\u201d Trump told Fox News\u2019 Hannity program in an interview. \u201cThey should make a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n In the latest incidents in the strait of Hormuz, an Indian cargo vessel carrying livestock from Africa to the UAE was sunk on Wednesday in waters off the coast of Oman.<\/p>\n India condemned the attack and said all 14 crew had been rescued by the Omani coast guard.<\/p>\n Vanguard, a British maritime security advisory firm, said the vessel was believed to have been hit by a missile or drone which caused an explosion.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.48 EDT<\/p>\n Before they sat together, Trump and Xi spent about 10 minutes walking in the gardens of the Zhongnanhai compound.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the most beautiful roses anyone has ever seen,\u201d Trump reportedly said while walking past green columns and archways.<\/p>\n Xi later said he would send some rose seeds to Trump \u201cas a gift\u201d.<\/p>\n Xi and Trump at Zhongnanhai in Beijing. Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a001.23 EDT<\/p>\n Trump says ‘a lot of different problems’ settled with Xi<\/p>\n Donald Trump just said his visit had been \u201cincredible\u201d and \u201cI think a lot of good has come of it\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve made some fantastic trade deals for both countries,\u201d the US president said.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn\u2019t have been able to solve.<\/p>\n Trump said his relationship with Xi Jinping<\/a> was \u201ca very strong one\u201d.<\/p>\n Sitting beside Xi in Beijing\u2019s Zhongnanhai leadership compound, Trump also said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe did discuss Iran. We feel very similar about [how] we want it to end. We don\u2019t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the strait open.\u201d<\/p>\n He also said that \u201cwe want them to get it ended because it\u2019s a crazy thing there\u201d.<\/p>\n Trump and Xi speaking in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing. Photograph: China Pool\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.19 EDT<\/p>\n Xi Jinping and Donald Trump<\/a> are now sitting together in Beijing\u2019s Zhongnanhai leadership compound complex and Xi is speaking.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump says getting Iran’s enriched uranium ‘more for public relations’<\/p>\n Before these final meetings of the Beijing summit, Donald Trump<\/a> suggested that hunting down Iran\u2019s enriched uranium was primarily for political optics, after Israel demanded it as a goal.<\/p>\n \u201cI just feel better if I got it, actually, but it\u2019s \u2013 I think, it\u2019s more for public relations than it is for anything else,\u201d Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview from China<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other thing we could do is bomb it again,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut I, just, I would feel better getting it, and we will get it.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who alongside Trump ordered the attacks on Iran that began on 28 February, said in a recent interview that the war was \u201cnot over\u201d because the sensitive nuclear material \u201chas to be taken out\u201d of the country, Agence France-Presse reports.<\/p>\n Iran has not confirmed the location of its highly enriched uranium, which some experts believe could be buried deep underground, making the task of seizing it prohibitively difficult without precise intelligence.<\/p>\n Trump, in a social media post<\/a> on Friday referring to his second administration\u2019s achievements, said they included \u201cthe military decimation of Iran (to be continued!)\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Xi and Trump meet at Chinese leadership compound<\/p>\n Donald Trump has reportedly arrived at Beijing\u2019s Zhongnanhai complex \u2013 China\u2019s leadership compound \u2013 for a meeting with Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n The two leaders are set to pose together in the gardens of the walled-off compound \u2013 next to the Chinese capital\u2019s Forbidden City \u2013 and then have a working tea and a closed-door lunch.<\/p>\n Afterwards their two-day summit wraps up and the US president is to leave China<\/a> for Washington on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n Donald Trump after Xi Jinping greets him at the Zhongnanhai garden in Beijing on Friday. Photograph: Evan Vucci\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a023.26 EDT<\/p>\n![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778831829_268_4583.jpg\")
Trump and Xi speaking in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing. Photograph: China Pool\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/David_Smith.png\")
David Smith<\/p>\n![\"Amy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Amy_Hawkins.png\")
Amy Hawkins<\/p>\n