Trump, Xi end state visit that was long on pomp, but short on progress

U.S. President Donald Trump took Chinese leader Xi Jinping to see the founding documents of American democracy on Friday, capping a state visit full of pomp and pageantry but with no major breakthroughs.

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Trump said he discussed the stalled Iran war with Xi, and the two leaders confirmed that they would meet for a third and fourth time this year at international summits in China and the United States.

But as Trump showed Xi around the National Archives in Washington — home to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution — it underscored that the summit was more about spectacle than substance.

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The summit produced no major policy announcements on flashpoints like artificial intelligence, Taiwan or trade, apart from a two-month extension of a tariff truce between the world’s two largest economies.

The only other reveal was that two Chinese pandas would soon arrive at a U.S. zoo.

The message from the U.S. and Chinese sides was that the summit had nevertheless helped smooth tensions between the rival superpowers over a host of issues.

Trump said the meeting was “one of Friendship, Strength, and Success, for both China and the U.S.A.”

“We’ve made great strides, very positive for both countries,” Trump told reporters as he had tea with Xi at the White House on Friday before the archives trip.

Trump has rolled out the red carpet throughout the visit, treating Xi to a state banquet full of U.S. tech titans, plus military parades, a flyover and even a tour of his new White House helipad and ballroom.

For his part, Xi said his Washington trip had added “new substance” to his summit with Trump in Beijing in May.

The Chinese leader added that they had agreed to “strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness, and reciprocity.”

The announcement that the two leaders would continue their dialogue was perhaps the biggest deliverable for both sides.

Both leaders confirmed they would meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzen, China, in November and the G20 forum at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami in December.

On the final day of the authoritarian Chinese leader’s trip, Trump and his wife Melania brought Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan to the imposing National Archives building.

There they inspected the Declaration of Independence, which marks its 250th anniversary this year and which set out the path for American independence from the “tyrant” British king.

Beneath the rotunda, Trump also showed Xi the U.S. constitution, the document that set out the principles of the country’s democratic government two and a half centuries ago.

“We’re just comparing how this goes 250 years, theirs goes 6,000 years,” Trump told reporters, referring to China’s ancient roots, as he stood alongside Xi, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, which has ruled China since 1949.

Trump confirmed during the archive visit that the two leaders had discussed the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, which is approaching its seven-month mark.

The Republican has faced pressure from Democrats and his own party to confront Xi over reports that Beijing has supplied Tehran with intelligence for attacks on U.S. troops.

“We did, we did,” Trump said at the National Archives when asked if they had talked about Iran.

Asked if he thought there would be progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial for the flow of oil, Trump replied: “I think we’re going to do great.”

Trump’s showcasing of U.S. democracy at the National Archives comes a week after he banned three major U.S. media outlets from the White House. They were readmitted on Thursday on the orders of a U.S. judge.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom of the press.

Rights groups criticize China for its lack of press freedoms and the right of free expression.

Trump also publicly mocked his democratically elected predecessor Joe Biden as he gave Xi a tour of the White House on Thursday, showing him a picture of an “autopen” that he has mounted in a gallery of U.S. presidents instead of Biden’s portrait.

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