U.S. President Donald Trump (R) gestures to China’s President Xi Jinping as he leaves after a go to to Zhongnanhai Backyard in Beijing on Could 15, 2026.
Evan Vucci | Afp | Getty Pictures
Hello, that is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the newest version of The China Connection — a succinct snapshot of what I am seeing and listening to from native companies.
U.S. President Donald Trump has left Beijing after a extremely anticipated two-day go to with Chinese language President Xi Jinping. Fanfare apart, what’s modified for enterprise?
The large story
After a momentous Trump-Xi summit in Beijing final week with over a dozen American executives in tow, the U.S. and Chinese language readouts agree on one phrase: constructive strategic stability.
However what does that basically imply?
From an financial and commerce perspective, the time period quantities to “a type of business détente,” James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, advised me.
In sensible phrases, it indicators intent to speak and creates room to resolve disputes with no return to commerce battle uncertainty — a lift for enterprise confidence, he mentioned.
China emphasised that the framework would set the tone for a minimum of three years, or the remainder of Trump’s presidency.
“It is a elementary change from the earlier unilateral definition of strategic competitors,” mentioned Hai Zhao, a director of worldwide political research on the Chinese language Academy of Social Sciences, a state-affiliated suppose tank.
He mentioned that the 2 nations might use the months earlier than Xi’s deliberate go to to the U.S. on Sept. 24 to put the groundwork for better cooperation on fentanyl, immigration, elevated human interplay and tourism.
3 main shifts
Getting right here was not attainable with out adjustments on a number of fronts.
First, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Trump on his journey to Beijing, regardless of Chinese language journey sanctions imposed on him in 2020 when he was nonetheless a senator.
Rubio, who can also be serving as interim safety advisor, is the “designated interlocutor” proper now, Zhao mentioned. “So there is not any purpose China [would not] invite him on this journey and work with him [in] the longer term.”
Beijing additionally hopes that Trump can hold anti-China forces at bay domestically even after the midterm elections in November, and protect bipartisan help for steady U.S.-China relations, Zhao mentioned.
Second, Beijing has made its backside line on Taiwan clear.
Xi warned Trump that the island — which the Chinese language chief described as the most important subject in U.S.-China relations — might put the bilateral relationship into “nice jeopardy” if mishandled.
Trump, in the meantime, pushed again towards the concept that Taiwan ought to pursue independence, particularly with U.S. backing, in line with an interview with Fox Information that aired Friday afternoon, whereas urging each side to “cool it.”
The feedback provided a a lot clearer stance on Taiwan than in the course of the Biden administration, when the White Home needed to reaffirm the longstanding U.S. place after the president’s feedback hinted in any other case.
Third, China is more and more taking part in the lengthy recreation on know-how.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was tight-lipped on China chip gross sales when he stopped to talk with reporters on his strategy to a bunch assembly with Chinese language Premier Li Qiang.
Trump “requested me to return,” Huang mentioned, including that he was in Beijing to help the president in the course of the summit.
However when Trump was requested in regards to the Nvidia H200 chips, he indicated that China had chosen to not purchase them, whereas leaving open the likelihood that this might change.
“It is a calculated defensive maneuver by President Xi,” Nomura’s Chief China Economist Ting Lu mentioned in a observe.
“Beijing is reluctant to lock its main tech corporations right into a U.S.-regulated system that instantly enriches the U.S. Treasury through a 25% surcharge and weakens Beijing’s efforts to help China’s personal AI chipmakers.”
Simply as China in 2025 was way more ready to resist U.S. tariffs than in 2018 , the strategic stakes within the technological race at the moment are turning into clearer.
Have to know
China’s April financial knowledge underwhelms, with retail gross sales progress slowing to lowest since 2022
Retail gross sales rose by simply 0.2% in April from a yr in the past, whereas mounted asset funding fell on a year-to-date foundation as the actual property drag worsened. Industrial manufacturing rose by 4.1%, additionally slower than anticipated.
U.S. can maintain AI talks with China as a result of ‘we’re within the lead,’ Bessent tells CNBC
The U.S. and China are “going to arrange a protocol when it comes to how can we go ahead with finest practices for AI to verify nonstate actors do not come up with these fashions,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent advised CNBC’s Joe Kernen on Thursday
A state banquet, selfies with Musk and Huang’s noodle run: The spectacle of Trump’s Beijing go to
Alongside the Trump-Xi summit, movies and photographs emerged on social media of U.S. executives, particularly Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, mingling with locals or exploring Beijing.
Arising
Could 18-19: APEC senior officers meet in Shanghai
Could 19-20: Russia’s Vladimir Putin pays a state go to to China
Could 21: Xiaomi holds launch occasion for YU7 GT SUV in Beijing
Could 20-23: APEC commerce ministers meet in Suzhou
Could 24-27: IEEE Worldwide Symposium on Circuits and Methods in Shanghai
