US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit at the White House, but analysts note that no groundbreaking agreements were reached as the focus remained on the stable management of bilateral relations.

First, the partial extension of the "trade truce" can be seen as a modest achievement.

However, observers note that the talks once again highlighted how difficult it is to narrow differences amid fierce hegemonic competition across all fronts, including artificial intelligence (AI).

President Trump hosted a state welcome ceremony for President Xi at the White House on the morning of the 24th local time, treated him with high honors, and then entered into closed-door talks that lasted about 90 minutes.

While the White House has yet to release an official statement, reports from China's state-run Xinhua News Agency suggest that a plan to extend the US-China "trade truce" by two months until January 10 next year has been finalized.

Xinhua reported that the US and China have reached a new trade agreement, citing remarks by President Xi.

This is interpreted as signifying the "two-month extension of the trade truce" that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent disclosed a day before the summit.

However, it is unlikely that outcomes beyond the extension of the trade truce emerged.

In particular, it remains unknown whether the US demand to establish a "hotline" in the heavily focused field of AI was accepted.

Instead, the two leaders merely confirmed clear differences in their stances regarding AI development.

President Trump made clear his stance of maintaining the current state where the US holds the upper hand, while President Xi emphasized cooperation for AI control, urging that each side leverage its own strengths rather than keeping each other in check.

In effect, China, pressed to catch up in the face of US efforts to maintain technological superiority, demanded a slowdown in the name of "control."

Although discussions will continue, observations suggest it will not be easy for the US and China to produce practical and concrete results regarding AI risk management.

Nor are there signs of progress regarding the easing of China's export controls on rare earths, which is a pressing need for the United States.

China's rare earth controls were precisely what halted President Trump's high-tariff war, and while the US is currently accelerating rare earth procurement and processing, reliance on China remains unavoidable until the 2030s.

However, it is possible that some level of agreement was reached in areas such as China's purchase of US agricultural products and Boeing aircraft.

As a result, analysts assess that the two leaders focused this summit on maintaining the "constructive US-China relationship of strategic stability" agreed upon during President Xi's visit to China last May.

This is because neither President Trump, facing the midterm elections in early November, nor President Xi, seeking to tighten his grip on power through the "Plenary Session" next month, wants the US-China conflict to escalate.

The two leaders are likely to meet again at the APEC summit in China in November and the G20 summit in the US in December, but with the trade truce deadline fast approaching, projections indicate they will continue a tug-of-war centered on fostering bilateral stability for the time being.

A particularly notable aspect of this summit is the fact that President Xi, despite President Trump's warm hospitality, made a strong demand to his face that the US change its position to "opposing Taiwan independence."

Regarding Taiwan independence, President Xi pressured the US to change its existing stance of "do not support" to "oppose."

Going a step further from his warning last May that "mismanagement could lead to conflict," he demanded an explicit concession.

President Xi stated, "I hope the Taiwan issue will be handled prudently to lay a solid foundation for strategic cooperation and the development of relations between China and the US," directly linking US-China strategic stability to the Taiwan issue, drawing keen interest in how President Trump will respond.

Another focal point is whether President Trump asked President Xi for cooperation in resuming dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The Chinese side only stated that the two leaders exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula issue, and attention is focused on what content the upcoming White House briefing will contain.

Last May, announcements were made confirming the shared goal of "the denuclearization of North Korea," but the current situation features President Trump sending conciliatory messages toward North Korea, which is rejecting denuclearization talks.

(Photo: Getty Images)