Trump and Xi in Beijing, With Rush Doshi
The President’s Inbox
Council on Foreign Relations
4.4 • 734 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The backdrop is Iran. The very fact that a U.S. president is going to China, while he's also having his military blockade Chinese ships in the Strait of Hormuz is a highly awkward and unusual situation. |
| 0:13.6 | President Donald Trump has just arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. |
| 0:19.1 | It is the first state visit by a sitting U.S. president |
| 0:22.0 | since Trump traveled to China in November 2017. |
| 0:26.1 | Trump began his second term by imposing steep tariffs on Chinese goods. |
| 0:30.2 | Beijing retaliated in kind, prompting a partial U.S. retreat. |
| 0:34.2 | In recent months, the White House has shifted toward a strategy |
| 0:36.9 | of what appears to be |
| 0:37.9 | managed competition. I have a great relationship with President Xi. |
| 0:42.2 | What does Trump hope to achieve in his talks with Xi? How will the war with Iran shape their |
| 0:46.3 | conversation? And will the two superpowers stabilize their rivalry? Or are U.S. Chinese |
| 0:51.2 | tensions destined to intensify? From the Council on Foreign Relations, welcome to the president's inbox. |
| 0:57.3 | I'm Jim Lindsay. |
| 0:58.5 | I'm being joined today by Rush Doshi, C.V. Starr, Senior Fellow for Asia Studies, |
| 1:03.6 | and Director of the China Strategy Initiative here at the Council on Foreign Relations. |
| 1:08.2 | Rush, thank you very much for joining me. |
| 1:09.9 | Thanks. Glad to be here. |
| 1:11.3 | Rush, let's begin with the big question. Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet the next two days. |
| 1:17.8 | This is the first of what will be four meetings we think over the course of 2026. How important is |
| 1:25.2 | this meeting? Well, it's an important meeting in that any time the U.S. and Chinese |
| 1:29.0 | leaders meet, it's consequential. A lot could happen. But if we're being realistic, I don't think |
| 1:33.3 | we should hold our breath for major outcomes at this meeting. This meeting is coming at an unusual |
... |
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