Trump's quiet China wins are more important than Xi's empty state visit
China’s President Xi Jinping, ruler for life, is not ready to make sweeping deals with the USA on soybeans, AI or anything else.This was a State Visit, not a summit, but even so, deliverables were light.
China’s state-owned People’s Daily was so strapped for material that they ran a story titled: "Bonded by Ping-Pong: China-U.S.friendship writes a new chapter."But don’t lose heart.
The Trump Administration has scored some quiet wins and much better field position for the long haul."The old adage of deliverables in a relationship that we have with China is really not measurable in many ways," said U.S.
Ambassador to China David Perdue.It’s about "continuing the conversation."What matters most to America in the long term is the trade deficit.
Good news: it's falling.Already the gap between U.S.
exports and imports from China is down from $297 billion in 2024 to $202 billion in 2025, and U.S.Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says the deficit is on track to drop to $140 billion for 2026.
If achieved, this is a historic reversal of globalization.The gap hasn’t been this low in over 20 years.TRUMP-XI REUNION COMES WITH UNFINISHED BUSINESS — AND A BIGGER BATTLE LOOMINGCredit what Team Trump calls "managed" trade: specific, non-sensitive goods, such as agricultural products and medical devices.
"All those export controls that are national security issues, we take those off the table," Greer told CNBC.Greer promised more trade details next week.
However, China has bought only half the amount of soybeans agreed, according to American Soybean Association President Scott Metzger, so there’s still a ways to go on the trade balance.This is not glamorous work.Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent held a 12-hour meeting on Sunday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
In the end, all the two sides could do was extend the 2025 truce for two more months.You remember what happened last year: China stopped licensing rare earth material exports, and Trump sla...