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Trump departs Beijing after whirlwind China visit

US President Donald Trump is headed home to Washington after spending two days with China's Xi Jinping in Beijing. Both leaders struck a cordial tone, but no concrete agreements were announced. Follow DW. Welcome to DW's coverage of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing from May 13-15. China and the US have agreed to expand two-way trade and resolve market access concerns, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday. In a Foreign Ministry statement, Wang said Beijing and Washington have agreed to establish a "Board of Trade" and "Board of Investment." They have also agreed to resolve concerns over market access for agricultural products, the ministry said.  The world's two largest economies also agreed to expand two-way trade "under [a] reciprocal tariff reduction framework," Wang said, breaking away from a trade war reignited last year by Trump's tariff policy. "The delegations of the two countries reached overall positive results," Wang said in the statement, without sharing specifics.  Teams on both sides "are still consulting on the relevant details and will finalize the outcomes as soon as possible," he added . Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the US in the autumn, at the invitation of US President Donald Trump , China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday,  Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. During a banquet dinner in Beijing on Thursday, Trump extended Xi an invitation to the White House for a visit on September 24. Taiwan has said it closely monitored talks between the US and Chinese leaders in Beijing and remains in contact with Washington. Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said Taipei was maintaining strong communication with the United States and would deepen cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific. US President Donald Trump had said he discussed Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders met, but did not share details of the conversation. The issue of Taiwanese independence is a red line for Beijing , which considers Taiwan to be part of China , that will one day be "reunited" with the mainland. Analysts ahead of the summit had expected Xi would push Trump on softening US support for Taipei.  On Facebook, Lin said many Taiwanese had been "concerned" by Trump's meeting with Xi. Speaking aboard Air Force One to reporters about Taiwan talks with Xi, Trump said he "heard him out" and did not take a position, adding he had made no commitments either way. About the two massive US arms deals for Taiwan  still on the table that need Trump's approval to move forward , the US president only said "I will make a determination." The US is Taiwan's main defense backer, and the issue of arms sales is a sore point in US-China ties.  To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return from China, Trump said he and Xi "talked a lot about Taiwan" but added that he did not believe there was conflict over the issue. "We'll be fine," Trump said when asked about whether he believes there's a risk of conflict with China. Trump ​also said Xi asked directly whether the US would defend Taiwan if China attacked the island, but that he declined ​to answer. "There's only one person that knows that, and it is me. I'm the only person," Trump said. "That question was asked to me today by President Xi. I said, I don't talk about that."  China claims ‌Taiwan as its own territory and has long opposed US weapons sales to the ​island, which ⁠Beijing sees as interference in its internal affairs. The US, ⁠despite lacking formal ​diplomatic ties with Taiwan, remains Taiwan's biggest defense backer.  Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning a trip to China "very soon," Russia's state news agency TASS reported. An official announcement is soon to come, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, noting that Moscow didn't want to get ahead of its partner. Preparations for the visit have been completed and coordinated, TASS reported Peskov as saying. Russia and China share strong ties and Beijing has provided an economic lifeline for Moscow amid the war in Ukraine.  Shortly before launching the war in 2022 , Putin met Xi Jinping at the Winter Olympics in Beijing and announced a "strategic partnership of coordination" that had entered "new era," reaching an "unprecedented level" and becoming a "model of efficiency, responsibility, and aspiration for the future." Statements from both Russia and China demonstrate a shared interest to counter what they consider to be US-led Western "hegemony." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video DW's chief international editor, Richard Walker, said that the summit will be judged against the outcomes in the coming months and years. "We can breathe a sigh of relief" at this stage, Walker said, but the "story is not over yet" since we're yet to hear from Donald Trump who mainly stuck to the script over the course of the summit. On Taiwan:  "US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today and as of the meeting that we had here today. It was raised. They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News. Walker noted the use of "as of today" that might signal that there could be more communication that we can expect from Trump in the coming days. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that he expects Trump to say more on Taiwan soon too . On AI:  Both Trump and China are locked in competition over AI, Walker said. Tesla's Elon Musk and Nvidia's Jensen Huang stayed close to Trump during the welcome ceremony, symbolizing how important AI was to US-China ties. DW correspondent in Taiwan, Rik Glauert, said all of that shows just how important "strategic connectedness" is — that both sides have a chance to work together but there's also an underlying desire to maintain dominance. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "China has been following its strategic focus to a T" and has been undertaking sweeping efforts to strengthen its military, political analyst Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook told DW. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who heads China's military as chairman of the Central Military Commission, has made it a top priority and relentlessly pushed for progress. Chinese businesses have rapidly embraced AI, facilitating its swift and widespread adoption in almost every possible field. In this sphere of competitiveness, she said, Xi made it clear that any meaningful improvement in relations with the US would come with conditions — notably on Taiwan. Chinese state media reported Thursday that Xi told Trump that the Taiwan issue was the "most important issue" in China-US relations. "If mishandled, the two nations will experience collision or even clashes, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly dangerous situation," Xinhua News Agency quoted Xi as saying. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Political scientist Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook told DW that the relationship between the US and China has been characterized by economic rivalry for many years, and that's unlikely to change. China has an interest in making sure that the US lifts sanctions, and that could potentially be a signal that could reset relations, she said. However, little is known about the extension of the trade truce that the two superpowers reached last October. Not much has also been announced about Chinese assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz , which many Asian allies rely on, she added. As US President Donald Trump concludes his high-stakes trip to China, we ask: who came out on top in the meeting between the world's two biggest superpowers — Donald Trump or Xi Jinping? The White House says Trump delivered on his promise, calling him the "dealmaker in chief" who gets results. Follow along as we speak with DW's chief international editor, Richard Walker, DW correspondent in Taiwan, Rik Glauert, and political analyst Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook from the Bertelsmann Foundation. US President Donald Trump said both sides made "fantastic deals" earlier today during closing remarks. But there is little known about what those deals entail. China's Xi Jinping spoke about a positive turn in relations between the two countries. "This visit is a historic and landmark visit. Together, we affirmed the new position of a constructive, strategic and stable China-US relationship," the Chinese president said, according to a readout from the state-run CCTV channel. "The visit is also beneficial to promoting mutual understanding, deepening trust in each other, and increasing the well-being of the people of both countries," Xi added. The Chinese leader said both countries should carry out the "important consensus" reached during Trump’s visit and keep the relationship on the right track.  President Donald Trump has left Beijing after a high-stakes meeting with China's Xi Jinping. President Donald Trump's motorcade has arrived at the airport in Beijing as he prepares to return to Washington. Schoolchildren dressed in some of Air Force One's light blue and white colors waved American and Chinese flags. "Farewell, farewell," they chanted. "Warm farewell!" Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saw a smiling Trump off at the airport. Trump turned at the top of the stairs and pumped his fist and waved before entering the aircraft. But he didn't speak with reporters before departing for home. Trump and Xi were served a wide selection of dishes, including minced codfish in seafood soup, crispy and stir-fried lobster balls, stewed beef in a bun, and steamed pork and shrimp dumplings. Plus, there was dessert, which included chocolate brownies and fruits. The carefully choreographed photo of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping seated across from each other inside the Great Hall of the People on Thursday was designed to impress. But the photo was criticized for a conspicuous lack of women at the table, with a post on social media by Gita Gopinath, an economics professor at Harvard, having garnered many thousand likes and views.  Similarly, Trump and Xi are holding a second round of talks today with a small coterie of people who are all men. Trump and Xi are now at a working lunch at Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. This is the last event on the schedule before Trump returns to Washington. The leaders earlier took a stroll through the gardens and paused for a "friendship photo." Trump told reporters that they had made "fantastic trade deals." Xi also said he was going to send Trump some rose seeds after the US president remarked that the roses there were the most beautiful he had ever seen.