Donald Trump loves spectacle. Xi Jinping loves symbolism. On Wednesday evening at Joint Base Andrews, both got what they wanted.
Trump, in long coat and gloves, waited at the foot of the stairs of Xi's Air China 747 — a planeside honour so rare historians reached for 1962, when JFK greeted Harold Macmillan. Beside him, Melania Trump greeted Peng Liyuan. A 100-foot red carpet, 21-gun salute, honour guard, anthems, and for sheer Trumpian theatre, two B-1 bombers screaming overhead. Trump winced. Xi remained impassive.
It was the exact reversal of May, when Xi sent a ceremonial Vice President, Han Zheng, to receive Trump in Beijing, a man with no portfolio, no Politburo seat, no power. That was the message then: America is not a peer. This was the message now: China is.
"I met President Xi at the plane yesterday and he looks strong, vibrant, and fit - Better than ever. Madam Xi, of course, BEAUTIFUL!" Trump posted later.
But behind the pomp, Beijing left with less than it came for.
China wanted a one-year extension of the trade truce signed in Busan in October 2025, which froze the tariff war. What it got was two months — pushed from November 10 to January 10 — announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng. The core issues — China's stranglehold on rare earths, US curbs on advanced chips, and China's $300bn-plus trade surplus — were all kicked to future talks in China in November and Florida in December.
China's economy needs breathing room. Youth unemployment above 20%, property prices slumping for three years, and export markets are its lifeline. A short extension keeps leverage in Washington.
On Taiwan, Xi's red line, there was also silence. Xi has warned that US arms sales to Taiwan could lead to conflict. Before this visit, Trump had quietly suspended a $14 billion arms package to placate Beijing. But he did not publicly commit to scrapping it, as Xi demanded.
There were soft wins: agreement to keep talking on AI — Xi insisting humans must retain control — and the resumption of panda diplomacy, with two pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, headed to Atlanta.
As former Harvard dean Graham Allison wrote: "President Trump is a master of the art of spectacle." Xi got the respect China craved — the visual proof he is treated as an equal. What he didn't get is the deal China needed.