The summit between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping delivered what both sides wanted: pageantry, positive rhetoric, and the appearance of a reset in the relations between the United States and China. Beyond the carefully stage-managed proceedings, the Beijing summit revealed something more striking: it underscored how narrow the ambitions of both parties have become.

The centerpiece appears to be the establishment of a bilateral “Board of Trade” to boost commerce in a relatively small basket of non-sensitive goods. Initial discussions reportedly cover roughly $30 billion worth of trade, a strikingly modest figure given a relationship that once involved more than $650 billion in annual bilateral goods trade.

To put that in perspective, after Washington and Beijing signed the so-called Phase One trade agreement in 2020, China committed to purchasing additional American goods and services worth $200 billion over 2020 and 2021, nearly seven times the $30 billion now under discussion. Even then, China did not fully meet that target.

Now, China is expected to increase imports of American agricultural products, energy, and aircraft, though the purchase commitments remain far more limited than anticipated. Beijing has agreed to buy 200 Boeing planes, well short of the 500 reported to be under discussion ahead of the summit.

On the Chinese side, the likely beneficiaries of the so-called “Board of Trade” are producers of low-tech consumer goods—clothing, furniture, shoes, and toys—products that Washington no longer considers strategically significant. More sensitive sectors are expected to remain effectively off limits.

That distinction matters, as it reveals the source of the strain between the two powers. Neither Washington nor Beijing want meaningful economic dependence on the other in areas they........

© Time