Xi gets the red carpet, the sea bass and two pandas. The trade truce only runs to January.

Chinese President Xi Jinping closed a three-day Washington visit, his first in more than a decade, with a White House state dinner. According to the BBC, the substance was thinner than the ceremony. The truce pausing the U.S.-China tariff war was extended only a few months, from November to January, which pushes the fights over tariffs, rare earths and advanced chips into yet another round of talks. Xi again called U.S. arms sales to Taiwan a red line, and the President has not publicly responded. Atlanta does get two pandas within days. Why it matters at home: that truce is what keeps a tariff war off store shelves, and it now runs out just after the holidays. Pageantry is not an agreement. Mark January on the calendar.