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The President’s Inbox

Trump and Xi in Beijing, With Rush Doshi

The President’s Inbox

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News:politics, News

4.4734 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode unpacks President Donald Trump’s upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the first by a sitting U.S. President in nearly a decade, as the United States and China work through a tense period of détente.   Host: James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR   Guest: Rush Doshi, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asia Studies and Director of the China Strategy Initiative   We Discuss: Whether the Trump-Xi summit will represent continuity or a new phase in the U.S.-China relationship. How China assesses the military and economic balance of power with the United States. What last year's trade war revealed and how it produced the current period of managed competition. As Rush Doshi puts it: “I don’t think there’s going to be a large structural breakthrough.” What deliverables the Trump administration is seeking from the summit, and why negotiations are focused on process mechanisms and stability. How China has responded to the U.S.-Iran war and why it has stayed on the sidelines despite having clear strategic interests. Why China welcomes U.S. entanglement in foreign conflicts but fears their effects on global trade and resource access. Why China is more exposed than the United States freedom of navigation threats and naval chokepoints. Why President Biden never traveled to Beijing, and how China is framing Trump's visit. Why American CEOs are joining Trump's trip, and what role they play in the summit. Whether the U.S. and China will negotiate agreements on artificial intelligence and its role in great power competition. How China has treated seemingly mutually-beneficial crisis communication channels as negotiation ploys in return for U.S. concessions.  Whether Taiwan will be on the agenda, what concessions China is seeking, and how U.S. policy shifts could affect internal Taiwanese politics on unification. How a so-called Board of Trade and other bilateral mechanisms could formalize a lasting state of managed trade between the two countries   Mentioned on the Episode:   “President Xi Jinping Speaks with U.S. President Donald J. Trump on the Phone” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs   Evelyn Cheng, “Trump is taking more than a dozen U.S. executives to China. Jensen Huang isn’t one of them,” CNBC   For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/trump-and-xi-in-beijing-with-rush-doshi    Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

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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