Pomp, pageantry but precious little to show for Trump’s Beijing excursion

No swift end to the Iran war, uncertainty over Taiwan and only vague outlines of commercial deals … but the US president did get to bask in the company of Xi Jinping

It was historic, to be sure, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/15/what-was-achieved-trump-xi-summit-beijing">but not as anyone had predicted.

First there was https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump">Donald Trump, a self-declared teetotaler, apparently drinking champagne after Xi Jinping assured him that China’s “great rejuvenation” could go hand in hand with “Make America great again”.

Then there was a Chinese military band playing a rendition of the US president’s signature campaign song, YMCA.

Beneath giant chandeliers, blue and gold balconies and a big orange backdrop with pagoda-style roofs, Thursday’s state banquet in Beijing featured characters whose presence would have been unthinkable here a decade ago: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/elon-musk">Elon Musk, the eccentric tech billionaire, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/pete-hegseth">Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host turned “secretary of war”, and of course Trump himself, a former reality TV star now leading the world’s biggest superpower.