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Trump Says He Didn’t Discuss Extending Tariff Truce With Xi
But Trade Ambassador Says 2 Sides Discussed $30 Billion Tariff Reduction on Noncritical Goods
President Donald Trump said he did not discuss a possible extension of his tariff truce when he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a summit in China.
“We didn’t discuss tariffs,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “They’re paying substantial tariffs, but we didn’t discuss.”
The president’s remarks come despite his trade ambassador, Jamieson Greer, saying earlier that the two sides had discussed creating a “Board of Trade” that would see tariffs reduced on at least $30 billion in noncritical goods.
There had also been speculation the two leaders could announce an extension of the deal they brokered during their last meeting — an agreement set to expire later this year — that cooled a trade war between Washington and Beijing that rattled financial markets as they imposed escalating retaliatory tariffs.
Trump and Xi eventually agreed to a broad one-year truce in October to ease those levies, with Beijing also committing to U.S. soybean purchases and relaxing export controls on critical rare earths.
While Trump maintained the leaders this week spoke about “almost everything you can discuss, except for a reduction of tariffs,” he did allow that the two sides outlined efforts to reduce the flow of precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl.
“We didn’t discuss tariffs,” Trump told reporters. “They’re paying substantial tariffs, but we didn’t discuss.”
Trade ambassador Jamieson Greer told me earlier today the US and China discussed creating a “Board of Trade” that would see tariffs reduced on at least $30 billion in… — Annmarie Hordern (@annmarie) May 15, 2026
Trump has cited fentanyl flows in imposing some of the levies he placed on China.
“I put a tariff on because of fentanyl, and they discussed that,” Trump said. The U.S. president indicated he was impressed that “fentanyl is way down from where it was” but said his trade “penalty” may have been the reason why.
