High Stakes Summit: Trump, Xi, and a changing world

President Donald Trump is in China this week for a high-stakes summit with President Xi Jinping and the world is watching the relationship that may define this century.

For most people, US-China relations can feel abstract. A contest between two great powers, played out through issues like trade and technology. The reality is that this relationship affects almost every aspect of our daily lives: from the prices we pay at the pump and in grocery stores, to the technology we use, and even the information we consume online.

China seems increasingly confident, while the United States is entering these talks under the weight of a war in the Middle East, economic anxiety at home, and growing questions about America’s role in the world.

So what kind of relationship are these two countries, these two men, really building? Is it based on rivalry? Interdependence? Or something more complicated?

This week I spoke to Ali Wyne, Senior Research and Advocacy Advisor for U.S.-China Relations, at the international crisis group and Author of the book, “America’s Great-Power Opportunity” (Polity, 2022)