President Donald Trump has placed a massive bet that the United States can take an historically aggressive stance against China, the world’s second-largest economy, and emerge stronger because of it.
Although it remains unclear if the gamble will pay off over the long term, Trump has been riding an incredible winning streak in recent months. The stock market is near record highs, the US economy rebounded in the second quarter and inflation has defied predictions of a surge after Trump put his tariffs in action.
But Chinese leader Xi Jinping is on a winning streak of his own. On Monday, Trump opened the door to sending China faster AI chips after releasing previously blockaded mid-tier chips. And despite America’s tariffs, China has successfully found other markets to sell to, flooding the world with its goods.
That’s because Xi holds a number of trump cards: China remains the world’s biggest exporter of goods, wielding significant power across the world. It also maintains control of nearly the entire supply of the world’s critical rare-earth minerals, necessary for manufacturing electronics and defense equipment crucial to America’s national security and whose export Beijing has been slow-rolling their release, much to US consternation.
And Xi has slow-walked a prize that Trump has long sought: a one-on-one meeting.
