America holds the advantage as Trump meets Xi in high-stakes summit

President Donald Trump arrives successful Beijing with a beardown manus to play successful talks with China’s President Xi Jinping. It’s each owed to his subject and commercialized moves implicit the past 16 months.

Of course, to work the press, you’d deliberation doom awaits. "Xi is assured successful his country’s power; Trump is weakened with U.S. mired successful war," fretted The Washington Post connected Monday, May 11. From New York, the Council connected Foreign Relations asserted connected Sunday that astatine the Trump-Xi summit, China volition person the precocious hand. The wide instrumentality is that Trump is reeling from the Iran war, portion Xi is immoderate benignant of mastermind, acceptable to hop into planetary leadership. "Xi wants to task China arsenic a much reliable and liable counterweight to U.S. volatility," arsenic the Post enactment it.

You’ve got to beryllium kidding me. The world is that Trump has enactment America successful a overmuch stronger geopolitical presumption versus China. Last spring, China was yanking export licenses for captious minerals and jeopardizing mill accumulation astir the globe. Now, the U.S. Navy sits athwart China’s No. 1 lipid way successful the Strait of Hormuz. That’s a caller poker hand.

Xi has spent the past twelvemonth purging subject officers, dealing with a slowing economy, and coping with China’s lag successful the AI contention by turning inward.

TRUMP HEADS TO CHINA WITH THE UPPER HAND — AND XI KNOWS IT

Trump is expected to property Xi connected China's economical and strategical enactment for some Iran and Russia, including lipid revenue, dual-use components and imaginable weapons transfers, according to elder medication officials. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

In contrast, Trump has chopped commercialized deals astir the satellite attracting trillions of dollars successful overseas investment. He’s clobbered Iran’s subject and ended the regularisation of Chinese chum Nicolas Maduro successful Venezuela. The U.S. Pacific Fleet has intercepted illicit shadiness tankers bound for China’s teapot refineries that sneak successful lipid from Iran and Russia. The blase show of subject powerfulness successful Operation Epic Fury made eyeballs popular successful China’s People’s Liberation Army.

China experts caution Trump is forfeiting prestige by gathering connected Xi’s location turf. But for Trump, it’s irresistible. Accompanying Trump to Beijing is an American imagination squad of CEOs who predominate everything from debased Earth orbit (that’s Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX) to top-grade craft engines (that’s Larry Culp of GE Aerospace.)

He wants to look Xi Jinping successful the eye, and determination is nary substitute for sitting down astatine a negotiating table.

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Watch for 4 large moves successful Beijing.

Trade

This is simply a concern trip. Team Trump hates what China’s emergence did to the USA. Here’s the bully news. "Our commercialized shortage successful goods with China fell to $202 cardinal successful 2025—the lowest it has been since 2004. And China’s stock of full U.S. imports fell to astir 9 percent, the lowest it has been since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) successful 2001," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testified Apr. 28.

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What Trump wants present is simply a stable, balanced and civilian narration with China. His program is managed trade: a caller argumentation wherever the U.S. and China negociate tariffs assemblage by assemblage and grow commercialized connected non-sensitive goods.

Export deals

Agriculture is astatine the apical of the list, including exports of soybeans, dairy, and corn. Farmers are hoping for a semipermanent woody with China – though China has failed to unrecorded up to akin promises successful the past. Aviation watchers foretell Boeing could merchantability China up to 500 airliners and CEO Kelly Ortberg volition beryllium connected the trip. This is each portion of Trump’s program to constrictive the commercialized deficit. Trump wants America positioned for maximum sales.

TAIWAN WATCHES TRUMP-XI MEETING FOR SIGNS CHINA WILL TEST US RESOLVE

Iran

Trump volition travel down hard connected China for selling Iran sodium perchlorate and different chemicals for ballistic rocket fuels. Beijing is already anxious. Secretary of State Marco Rubio conscionable slapped sanctions connected Chinese outer imagery companies and connected Qingdao Haiye Oil Terminal Co., which receives Iranian oil. Dwindling lipid could deed plastics and chemicals industries and stunt Chinese economical growth.

China experts caution Trump is forfeiting prestige by gathering connected Xi’s location turf. But for Trump, it’s irresistible. 

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Artificial Intelligence

Trump and Xi whitethorn chit-chat astir AI safety, but the U.S. should steer wide of alleged agreements. The U.S. indispensable triumph the AI race. As of May 1, 2026, the U.S. government’s National Institute of Standards reports the champion U.S. model, Open AI GPT 5.5, is astir 8 months up of China’s DeepSeek V4 Pro.

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Whatever you deliberation astir AI, you don’t privation a satellite wherever Xi Jinping sets AI standards. America’s champion accidental present is the unfettered occurrence of our tech titans and start-ups. They are winning this contention with exemplary innovation, and by deploying the full AI tech stack crossed planetary markets up of China. Only our U.S. tech assemblage has the wealth to vie with China.

China remains a formidable subject competitor. China is erstwhile again landfilling for caller bases successful the South China Sea. China has doubled its atomic rocket arsenal from astir 250 to implicit 600 weapons and monolithic enlargement continues unabated. However, Trump’s blend of commercialized deals and subject deterrence is impervious affirmative of America’s unrivaled planetary leadership.

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