BEIJING — China's commerce ministry on Saturday described as "preliminary" the tariff, agricultural and aircraft deals agreed to during this past week's visit by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump left Beijing on Friday after two days of talks with President Xi Jinping that featured pageantry and warm rhetoric but limited detail on concrete outcomes across trade and investment.
Saturday's statement marked China's first public characterization of the outcomes of trade talks held this past week in Beijing and Seoul, and comes amid questions over what Trump’s first state visit to China in nearly a decade delivered.
On its website, the ministry said the two sides agreed to establish an investment board and a trade board to negotiate reciprocal, product-specific tariff reductions, as well as broader cuts on unspecified goods including agricultural products.
People are also reading…
Also on agriculture, the ministry said both sides agreed to "resolve or make substantive progress" on nontariff barriers and market access issues.
"The U.S. side will actively promote the resolution of China's long-standing concerns regarding the automatic detention of dairy products and aquatic products, exports of bonsai in growing media to the United States, and recognizing Shandong province as an area free of avian influenza," the ministry said.
After US President Donald Trump concluded his trip to China, he revealed more about his future plans for Taiwan. To find out if US arms sales to Taiwan might be a sticking point in US-China ties, TaiwanPlus spoke to David Sacks from the Council on Foreign Relations.
"The Chinese side will also actively promote the resolution of U.S. concerns regarding registration of beef facilities and exports of poultry meat from some U.S. states to China," it added.
The ministry did not identify companies or provide details on volumes, values or timelines.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins posted on social media Saturday that China agreed to implement beef commitments that include resuming imports from 17 U.S. states.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's government pressed the case Saturday for U.S. arms supplies, saying they are based on U.S. law and serve as a shared deterrent to regional threats, after Trump added to uncertainty about U.S. support by saying he had not decided on future sales.
Despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties, the U.S. is the most important international backer for democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its territory. Washington is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to provide weapons to the island.
In a statement, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's spokesperson Karen Kuo said China's escalating military threat is the "sole destabilizing factor" in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Taiwan Strait.
"Furthermore, military sales between Taiwan and the U.S. are not only a reflection of the U.S. security commitment to Taiwan as stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act, but also serve as a mutual deterrence against regional threats," she said.
Reza Sayah has more.Â
Taiwan thanks Trump for his long-standing and continued support for security in the Taiwan Strait, and Taipei continues to deepen cooperation with Washington, Kuo added.
In December, the Trump administration approved a record $11 billion arms sale package for Taiwan. Reuters reported a second one, worth about $14 billion, still awaits Trump's approval.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei earlier Saturday, Taiwan Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi declined to comment on the second package because it had yet to be made public, saying Taiwan would continue to communicate with the U.S. to understand the situation from Washington's side.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with members of the media Friday as he returns to the White House in Washington, D.C., after his trip to China.
Trump said China agreed to buy 200 Boeing aircraft, but analysts questioned the lack of a timeline.
The commerce ministry confirmed arrangements on "Chinese purchases of U.S. aircraft and U.S. assurances on the supply of aircraft engines and parts to China," without elaborating.
It said discussions on the details were continuing and that the agreements would be "finalized as soon as possible."
The commerce ministry said both sides aim to promote two-way trade, including in agricultural products, through measures such as reciprocal tariff reductions across a range of goods. It did not specify which products.
China's farm imports from the U.S. still face an additional 10% levy after last year's rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs sharply curtailed trade, which fell 65.7% year-on-year to $8.4 billion in 2025, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
China resumed purchases of some U.S. farm goods after an October meeting, fulfilling a U.S.-stated commitment to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans by the end of February. It also purchased some U.S. wheat cargoes and large volumes of sorghum.
Market watchers expect a 10% cut in soybean tariffs, which could allow private Chinese crushers to resume purchases that were largely sidelined during last year's U.S. harvest, when state crop traders were the only buyers.
"Tariff reductions on agricultural products would mark a normalization of China-U.S. farm trade, allowing commercial buyers to re-enter the market," said Johnny Xiang, founder of Beijing-based AgRadar Consulting.
Beijing on Friday granted five-year registration extensions to 425 U.S. beef plants that largely were shut out after their registrations lapsed last year, and approved new five-year registrations for 77 additional U.S. facilities.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday the U.S. expects China to buy "double-digit billions" worth of U.S. farm goods over the next three years, although neither side has yet released details on specific products, values or volume.
