BEIJING (AP) — China and the United States have signed additional business agreements valued at $206.5 billion during President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, though some were less than binding commercial contracts.
The agreements signed Thursday at a ceremony attended by Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, included sales of U.S.-made chipsets, jet engines and auto parts.
Such contract signings are a fixture of visits to Beijing by foreign leaders and are intended to defuse foreign complaints about China’s trade policies.
Many of the contracts signed Thursday appeared to represent purchases Chinese mobile phone makers, airlines and other customers would have made anyway that were saved for signing during Trump’s visit.
Others included a cooperation framework on shale gas and a memorandum of understanding on industrial development.