President Donald Trump can return to the United States claiming to have snagged over $250 billion in deals from his maiden trip to Beijing. Whether those deals live up to the lofty price tag is another question altogether.

Watched by Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at a signing ceremony in Beijing, U.S. planemaker Boeing, General Electric, and chip giant Qualcomm sealed lucrative multibillion-dollar deals.

"This is truly a miracle," China's Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said at a briefing in Beijing.

The quarter of a trillion dollar haul underscores how Trump is keen to be seen to address a trade deficit with the world's second-largest economy that he has long railed against and called "shockingly high" on Thursday.

But U.S. businesses still have many long-standing concerns to complain about, including unfettered access to the China market, cybersecurity and the growing presence of China's ruling Communist Party inside foreign firms.

William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said the deals pointed to "a strong, vibrant bilateral economic relationship" between the two countries.

"Yet we still need to focus on leveling the playing field, because U.S. companies continue to be disadvantaged doing business in China."

U.S. tech companies like Facebook and Google are mostly blocked in China. Automakers Ford Motor and General Motors must operate through joint ventures, while Hollywood movies face a strict quota system.

"(These deals) allow Trump to portray himself as a master dealmaker, while distracting from a lack of progress on structural reforms to the bilateral trade relationship," Hugo Brennan, Asia analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said in a note.