According to Fox News, Trump told host Sean Hannity that Xi committed to helping the US with Iran and agreed to buy US soybeans, oil and liquified natural gas and other energy. Additionally, Xi said China would purchase 200 737 Boeing jets. The full interview is set to air Thursday evening. Boeing had previously been negotiating a deal to sell 500 737 Max jets to China. The company’s CEO Kelly Ortberg is in Beijing with Trump.
The trade deliverables from the Beijing summit are now confirmed. Two hundred Boeing 737 jets. Soybeans. Oil and LNG. American energy broadly. And — the structural mechanism that makes all of it potentially more durable than the 2017 summit’s $250 billion in promises that never materialised — a September Xi visit to the United States that creates accountability for implementation.
The Boeing Deal
Two hundred 737 jets is a substantial aircraft order from the world’s second-largest aviation market. It is not the 500 jet deal that had previously been under negotiation — Boeing was apparently hoping for the full 500, and got less than half. But 200 jets represents approximately $20-25 billion in Boeing orders at list price, though the actual negotiated price will be lower.
More importantly, it comes with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg in the room when the deal was reached — suggesting operational commitment from the company level rather than just government-to-government announcement.
Oil prices also rose after Trump told Fox News in a prerecorded interview that China has agreed to buy US soybeans, oil and Boeing jets.
The market reaction — oil prices rising — seems counterintuitive until you understand the mechanism: the news that Xi agreed to buy American energy (soybeans and oil) is read by markets as a signal that China is reducing dependence on Iranian oil, which removes one of Iran’s primary economic buffers, which increases pressure on Tehran to accept the MOU, which is priced as a positive deal signal. Everything connects.
The September 24 Xi Visit
Trump’s invitation to Xi to visit the US on September 24 means the two leaders can talk in person again before the expiration of the one-year trade truce set in October 2025. The agreement lowered tariffs and rolled back rare earths restrictions after an escalation in tensions between the two countries.
September 24 is the critical date. The one-year trade truce expires in October 2025 — meaning the September 24 Xi visit to the US is the last opportunity for the two leaders to meet before the trade architecture established at the South Korea summit either gets renewed or collapses into renewed tariff escalation.
Graham Allison predicted the truce “will become a formal agreement.” The September 24 visit is the mechanism for that formalisation. And it creates a second bilateral — four months from now — at which the Iran war’s resolution (or continued stalemate) will be the central agenda item again, with real trade consequences hanging over the meeting if no Iran progress has been made.
What the Trade Deal Means for Iran
Xi’s agreement to buy American oil is the trade deal’s most directly Iran-relevant element. Every barrel of American LNG or crude that China purchases from the US market is a barrel that did not go through the shadow fleet from Iran. The shift is gradual — it cannot be immediate — but the directional signal is clear: China is beginning the process of reducing its Iranian oil dependence, using the summit’s commercial agreements as the framework for that reduction.
“I do think each side has delivered. There was no substantive discussion on Taiwan, though, which is not surprising,” said Yue Su, principal economist, China, at the Economist Intelligence Unit. “More discussion on Iran highlighted that they do have common ground.”
“Common ground” — that is the Economist Intelligence Unit’s precise assessment of the summit’s Iran outcome. Not breakthrough, not resolution, but common ground. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Hormuz must stay open. No tolls. No militarisation. Both sides want a deal. China is willing to help. Xi is coming to Washington in September. The common ground is real — and it is more than existed on February 28 when the war began.
