US President Trump Heading to China

Reporter/Provider - Klein Wang/John Van Trieste
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Trump Heads to China Amid Global Challenges

 

REPORTER:  

US President Donald Trump is headed to China where he’ll meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in more than six months.

 

A lot has changed in that time—especially the start of a US-Israeli war with Iran that’s led to major global fuel shortages.

 

But Trump is upbeat—telling a crowd of reporters Iran might not come up at all, and that US-China ties are in good shape.

 

Donald Trump (US PRESIDENT): 

We're doing very well with China. And working with China has been very good. So we look forward to it. As you know, President Xi will be coming here toward the end of the year. So that'll be exciting. I only wish we had the ballroom finished. The ballroom is right on budget and ahead of schedule.

 

REPORTER:  

But there’s friction, too. US tariffs, including a 10% fentanyl tariff, remain in place.

 

REPORTER:  

And then there are issues like Taiwan—which China claims but which gets US support including with arms sales.

 

Analysts have a range of perspectives on what might come out of this meeting.

 

With the US under Trump more ambiguous about Taiwan, some don’t believe Taiwan will be a major topic—perhaps not as big a focus as Iran.

 

Kelly Grieco (STIMSON CENTER):  

I expect the Chinese will bring it up, try to see if they can, you know, get the president to agree to something. I'd be very surprised, though, if we see something significant come out of this summit on Taiwan, uh, you know, including the arms sale.

 

REPORTER:  

Others agree Taiwan will come up, but the desire on both sides for diplomacy might keep the tone muted.

 

Brian Hart (CSIS):  

I think you've seen a willingness on both sides to avoid some of the most sensitive, uh, things that could derail the summit. You know, this summit has already been delayed once due to the war in Iran. So I think that there's a desire to ensure that, you know, the meetings continue to take place and that both sides can have these conversations once they get there.

 

REPORTER:  

Some analysts in China expect a focus on repairing the US-China trade relationship instead—with a potential for big Chinese orders of US products like aircraft.

 

John Gong (PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF INT’L BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS):  

I think very much we are likely to see kind of a big deal. President Trump wants to promote American products and to him it's already a big win. I would expect a fairly large purchase order from China in this case, based on what President Trump can really boast about his achievement. In his achievement.

 

REPORTER:  

In Beijing, there’s both hope for rapprochement with the world’s other major power.

 

BITE (Beijing):  

It's mainly because lately we've been seeing that the global situation is relatively turbulent and since China and the United States are two major powers the US president's visit to China is definitely a big event. The hope, of course, is to establish a long-term framework for peace between China and the US and to develop relations on that basis.

 

REPORTER:  

...and a sense of confidence that in the decade or so since Trump’s last visit, China has built up the strength to hold its own against its strategic rival.

 

BITE (Beijing):  

The gap between China and the United States is getting smaller and smaller, I think because we've been constantly catching up. And in recent years, I feel that in some areas we may already have surpassed the US.

 

REPORTER:  

Trump’s visit to China will be brief—only around a day and a half.

 

But in that window, Trump and Xi will try and steer one of the world’s most critical diplomatic relationships through an unstable world.

US-China Relations