The stakes are enormous. Bilateral trade is nearly $600 billion. Markets continue to remain jitteryabout the U.S.-China trade spat, even after cabinet officials patched together a series of rolling truces earlier this year as stopgap measures before a presidential sit-down.
Trump is bullish. He told reporters in Washington last week that “we’ll make a deal on, I think, everything” and echoed that optimism today to a room full of CEOs in South Korea. For months, Trump has pressed Beijing to buy more American soybeans, curb fentanyl precursor exports, release TikTok’s U.S. business, and guarantee supplies of critical minerals. He has also suggested that a “fantastic deal” will extend to thorny geopolitical matters. Xi will use his “big influence” over Vladimir Putin to help end the Russian President’s war on Ukraine. The two sides will cooperate on “maybe even nuclear,” elevating Beijing’s involvement in superpower arms control. Disputes over Taiwan will not interfere because China “doesn’t want to” invade.
