Trump kisses Xi’s ass to get them to buy the same amount of soybeans they would anyway and then gives them a big tariff cut. Trump pumps his had while grinning ear to ear. Xi did not even have to smile. Xi gains face. In the Asian mind this is winning big time.
I have no doubt that the CCP propaganda broadcasts every fart from Xi as though it's a win for China. Here's how I see today's deal.
Xi is still dealing with a Trump America that no longer treats China with favored nation status. Now we impose a 10% tariff on Chinese goods (agreed on today) that's higher than we did before before Trump 45.
China today agreed to 10% (same link above) tariffs on American goods, which is admittedly higher than the 7.82% avg tariff they were charging in the pre-Trump years.
So American exporters are facing a 2-ish% increased tariffs on selling goods in China, while China is facing a much larger increase in tariffs on selling goods in the U.S. and no longer getting the favored nation kids glove treatment. While we're also bombing some of their drug transfers into the U.S. from Venezuela.
You can call all of that a win for Xi if you want. I call that a win for Trump by removing the recent teethy growl of China banning precious metals exports (they agreed to keep selling to us) while we're still hitting them harder than they are us.
Of course, heir leverage is....that Xi can change his mind at any moment and agreements mean nothing...but dealing with Trump this time around is just a tad different.