State of Play

Has the Iran war upended U.S.-China negotiations?

Donnerstag, 9. April 2026 · 28 min

MP3

Shownotes

President Trump delayed his planned summit with Xi Jinping from March to May due to the war with Iran. Scott Kennedy and Brian Hart join Will to assess the war's impact on the talks, if the war has changed China's negotiating strategy, and if we should expect a different outcome from the May summit as a result of the delay.

• Scott Kennedy, "The United States Needs a Coherent China Policy (csis.org/analysis/experts-react-us-china-relat…)," CSIS, October 6, 2025.

• Bonny Lin, "Why a Venezuela-Style Operation Would Backfire for Beijing (csis.org/analysis/are-us-operations-venezuela-…)," CSIS, January 9, 2026.

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