Washington (United States) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump took Chinese leader Xi Jinping to see the founding documents of American democracy on Friday, capping a state visit full of pomp and pageantry but with no major breakthroughs.

Trump said he discussed the stalled Iran war with Xi, and the two leaders confirmed that they would meet for a third and fourth time this year at international summits in China and the United States.

But as Trump showed Xi around the National Archives in Washington – home to the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution – it underscored that the summit was more about spectacle than substance.

The summit produced no major policy announcements on flashpoints like artificial intelligence, Taiwan or trade, apart from a two-month extension of a tariff truce between the world’s two largest economies.

The only other reveal was that two Chinese pandas would soon arrive at a US zoo.

The message from the US and Chinese sides was that the summit had nevertheless helped smooth tensions between the rival superpowers over a host of issues.

Trump said the meeting was “one of Friendship, Strength, and Success, for both China and the U.S.A.”

“We’ve made great strides, very positive for both countries,” Trump told reporters as he had tea with Xi at the White House on Friday before the archives trip.

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