“We should coexist in peace,” Xi Jinping told Donald Trump, with the American president looking on. “China and the United States, as two major countries, stand to gain from cooperation and will both lose in confrontation.”
It was the opening of their White House summit on Thursday, and Xi used it to lay out terms he said could steer the two powers away from war. If they were met, he said, “the Thucydides trap can be overcome”. The phrase, taken from the Greek historian, describes the tension that builds when a rising power challenges an established one. Xi had already put it to Trump in Beijing in May, asking how he planned to avoid it.
Xi’s terms
He asked for more communication: “candid, in-depth and continued dialogue” so each side can “seek common ground while shelving differences”. He asked the two militaries to keep up regular dialogue and improve mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention. And he borrowed Trump’s own slogan, saying that “achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again go hand in hand”. He also proposed inviting 100,000 young Americans to China on student exchanges.
The offer comes in the middle of fierce competition over artificial intelligence and trade, with each country imposing tariffs on the other. The US has placed strict export controls on chips, software and chip-making equipment to slow China’s AI progress.
Pageantry and a state dinner
Trump had gone to Andrews air force base the evening before to greet Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on the tarmac, an unusual step. On Thursday both national anthems were played at the White House. Trump noted that Xi is the first Chinese leader to make a second state visit to the US; the earlier one came in 2015, under Barack Obama. He spoke of a “truly great friendship” and of progress toward “a more balanced trading relationship”, including new market access for American farmers and ranchers.
The state dinner drew Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman. Trump said: “President Xi and I both understand we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure, and we’ve never gotten along better.” Xi said the talks had produced “common understanding on many issues” and that both countries “must act as responsible major countries”.
Doubts underneath
Analysts were skeptical that the warm tone would yield lasting arrangements. A tariff truce agreed by the two leaders in South Korea last year was due to expire in November. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it has been extended to February. Some analysts read that as a sign Trump is still unhappy with Xi’s trade offers and wants to keep up pressure before a possible meeting at the G20 summit in Miami in December.
Meanwhile Chinese imports keep surging into the US despite the trade war, and China is on course for a $1tn trade surplus for the second year running.
