Trump and Xi in Beijing, With Rush Doshi

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 (cfr.org/experts/james-m-lindsay), Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR

Guest:

Rush Doshi (cfr.org/experts/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 (fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xw/zyxw/202602/t20260205_1185…)” 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.com/2026/05/12/nvidia-ceo-huang-trump-chi…),” CNBC

For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/trump-and-xi…

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.