What Trump and Xi Didn't Settle in Beijing, With Nicholas Burns

This episode unpacks the key discussion points from the U.S.-China summit, including Taiwan, the Iran war, AI regulation, and the future of U.S.-China relations.

Host:

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

Guest:

Nicholas Burns (hks.harvard.edu/faculty/nicholas-burns), Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government; Former U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (2021–2025)

We Discuss:

• Whether the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing represented a genuine diplomatic breakthrough or merely a cooling of tensions without resolving underlying conflicts.

• What the dueling U.S. and Chinese post-summit statements reveal about each country's divergent priorities and negotiating strategies.

• How significant the summit's economic deliverables—agricultural sales commitments, Boeing aircraft sales, and a potential tariff truce—actually are.

• How Xi Jinping's early and deliberate warning about Taiwan set the tone for the summit, and what his decision to leak that statement mid-meeting signals about Chinese tactics.

• Whether President Trump's equivocation about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and the One China policy constitutes a major strategic mistake and what it means for American credibility with allies in the Indo-Pacific.

• What the presence of Putin in Beijing immediately after Trump's visit reveals about Chinese strategic alignments.

• Why an emerging U.S.-China dialogue on artificial intelligence regulation could prove to be the most consequential and underappreciated outcome of the Beijing summit.

• What concrete benchmarks—from tariff agreements to arms sales to Chinese follow-through on commitments—will determine whether this summit actually put U.S.-China relations on a more stable footing.

Mentioned on the Episode:

"Joint Statement Following Discussions with Leaders of the People's Republic of China (Shanghai Communiqué) (history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969…)" U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

"President Reagan's Six Assurances to Taiwan (congress.gov/crs-product/IF11665)" Congressional Research Service

"Readout of President Joe Biden's Meeting with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China (bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/sta…)" The White House

"Taiwan Relations Act (ait.org.tw/taiwan-relations-act-public-law-96-…)" Pub. L. 96–8, enacted April 10, 1979

"United States-China Joint Communiqué on United States Arms Sales to Taiwan (reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/united-state…)" Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

"U.S.-PRC Joint Communiqué (1979) (history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977…)" U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

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

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.