Chinese President Xi Jinping departed the US on Sept. 25, ending his state visit to Washington. The two nations extended a trade truce from November to January to provide more time for negotiations, marking the most concrete outcome of the discussions. Donald Trump and Xi scheduled two additional summits before year end, with one taking place in China in November and another at the G20 in Miami in December.

The 3 day summit focused more on optics and ceremony than substantive breakthroughs, and it remains unclear what the US received in exchange for projecting a positive relationship, former White House official Julian Gewirtz said. While Trump described the meeting as a success of friendship and strength, other reports indicate the visit yielded little tangible progress beyond the truce extension and a public commitment from Xi to maintain "healthy competition."