Regional Industry & News

What did we learn from the Trump-Xi summit?

President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping wrap up their two-day summit. What did we learn beyond the pageantry?

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping wrapped up their nearly two-day summit this afternoon. Both leaders framed the talks as productive, substantive and, as President Trump said, great for both countries. But neither leader went into the details of what was agreed upon or why these discussions were so great. NPR international correspondent Rob Schmitz joins us here in the studio to talk about this. Hey, Rob.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.

DETROW: It's sometimes hard to figure out the details from...

SCHMITZ: It is.

DETROW: ...Remarks like this. What do we know?

SCHMITZ: Yeah. I mean, expectations for this summit were pretty low, and both leaders seemed to deliver on those expectations as far as we can tell. This morning, President Trump and President Xi had tea at the White House, and they had positive things to say about the discussions. Xi called them substantive, and Trump used the word great, saying that U.S. farmers will be happy - a hint, perhaps, that Beijing may start making good on its promise to purchase more American agricultural products.

The two said they'd meet two more times this year, one at the APEC conference in China in November and again in Miami for the G20 summit in December. And the U.S. announced the trade truce with China will be extended another two months to the end of the year. But from what we've seen over the past few days, this mostly seemed like an opportunity for President Trump to put on a lavish welcome for the leader of a country that has become one of America's biggest competitors and rivals.

DETROW: On that note, he went to some extraordinary lengths. He went out to Joint Base Andrews to meet Xi on the tarmac. They had that lavish state dinner. Is there a sense that that helps in any way the U.S.-China relationship?

SCHMITZ: So I spoke with Julian Gewirtz about this. He was an advisor on China at the National Security Council during the Biden administration, and here's what he said about that.

JULIAN GEWIRTZ: I don't think Xi Jinping is going to fly back to Beijing and say, when he meets with the Pollock Bureau, hey, guys, I was wrong, the United States is our friend. But I do think there is a version of diplomacy with China that could be used quite effectively to lower tensions and buy time, but everything depends on what the United States does with the time it buys.

DETROW: And the idea of the time it buys - you mentioned that trade truce between the two countries for nearly a year.

SCHMITZ: Right.

DETROW: What has the U.S. done with that time?

SCHMITZ: Well, Scott, I mean, that's the key here. I mean, in that time, the Trump administration largely shifted its focus away from China. It started a war of choice with Iran. That's led to higher oil and gas prices worldwide. Now, the Trump administration says it's making the world a safer place from a potentially nuclear armed Iran. But in this time since the truce with Beijing was made, the U.S. and China have not made much progress on key issues like rare earth materials, managing AI, regional issues like South China Sea, Taiwan.

In the meantime, we've seen reports that, for its part, Beijing has lent intelligence support to Iran as it targets U.S. bases in the Middle East. So Gewirtz is saying this buying time strategy has benefited China over the U.S. and will likely continue to do so in the remaining time this truce between the two countries lasts.

DETROW: Rob, you covered China for NPR during President Trump's first term. How has his stance on China changed since then?

SCHMITZ: So a month after Trump was elected for his first term in 2016, he accepted a call from Tsai Ing-wen, then-president of Taiwan, and that shocked the China expert community because it broke with diplomatic protocol, the One China policy, and many experts were worried that it would offend Xi Jinping.

Ten years later, here we are with President Trump showing what some felt was deference towards Xi. China has become much stronger on the world stage in that time. And again, President Trump is being criticized for his stance on China, but this time, it's for being too cozy with China's leader, not for offending him. So the times have really changed.

DETROW: NPR's Rob Schmitz. Thanks so much.

SCHMITZ: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.