Expectations were low ahead of the talks, while neither EU nor China likely to budge on wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and U.S. tariff threats

Mr Xi urged the EU officials at the summit to "adhere to open cooperation and properly handle differences and frictions" after Ms von der Leyen warned that the bloc’s ties with China were at an “inflection point” and called for a rebalancing of trade ties with the world's second largest economy.