President Trump played host and tour guide to Chinese President Xi Jinping with a final stop at the National Archives Friday afternoon. The two leaders walked a red carpet into the building, pausing briefly on the steps while Trump pointed towards the Corinthian columns at the entrance. Along with their wives, the two men viewed the nation’s founding documents, including the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Shortly before the visit, the National Archives staff removed a table with historical artifacts pertinent to the U.S.-China relationship, including a stone from the Great Wall of China and an 1895 letter from the Guangxu Emperor to President Grover Cleveland.
Outside the security perimeter, hundreds of pro- and anti-Chinese Communist Party protesters could be heard yelling, an audible outpouring of the tense visit while the White House balances delicate trade deals with a midterm elections-year message of pushing back on Communism.
“This visit is obviously more optics than substance,” Hudson Institute senior fellow Miles Yu told RealClearPolitics. “The two sides basically stuck to the very familiar pattern of the U.S.-China relationship for more than 60 years: We agree to disagree.”
Xi’s trip resulted in verbal promises of trade truces and a tacit agreement to kick the can down the road on the thorny issues of rare earths export rules. China was slated to impose stricter controls in November. The two countries also extended their retaliatory tariff truce from November to January, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Xi also announced he would invite 100,000 American students to China over the next five years, and that he would send two pandas to the Atlanta Zoo. In a photo op in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump teased that farmers would be pleased with the results of the visit.
For his part, Trump stuck to scripted remarks in his public events with Xi, touting the long relationship with China and even some New York connections.
“President Xi and I both understand that we represent different systems, but the ties between our people in New York – we’ve never gotten along better since the first trade ships from New York left the harbor to arrive on the banks of the Pearl River,” Trump said at Thursday night’s state dinner. “Americans and Chinese have always exchanged goods, knowledge, customs, and ideas. This has been the foundation of commerce and mutual respect between our countries, and together we can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations.”
Xi tried to link China’s interests to Trump’s catchphrase of “Make America Great Again” in his pushes for cooperation instead of conflict. In his remarks after the bilateral meeting, Xi repeated an often-used line that the two countries can avoid war both physical and rhetorical.
“We should coexist in peace. China and the United States, as two major countries, stand to gain from cooperation and will both lose in confrontation,” Xi stated. His ingredients to do so: Bolster military communications and keep dialogue channels open. Along with goodwill measures like student exchanges and panda diplomacy, he said, “Thucydides’ trap can be overcome.”
Xi was referring to a political theory coined by Greek historian Thucydides. Analyzing the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, Thucydides posited that conflict between a global power and a rising power will most often result in war. China has long viewed itself as the rising power that will oust the United States on the world stage. But the flowery argument masks true differences and has ominous undertones, Hudson Institute’s Miles Yu said.
“Xi Jinping has a Ph.D. in Marxism,” said Yu. “When he tries to infer the so-called decline in the West and the rise of China, this is a typical Marxist-Leninist view.” Yu argued that Xi likes to invoke Thucydides to sound imposing and to artificially prop up China’s position.
“The U.S. is much stronger than China in virtually every imaginable indicator,” Yu added. “Xi is 10 times more paranoid than any American leader, and you could see this with President Trump. [Trump] ordered the bombers and fighter jets to fly overhead, he showcased America’s founding principles and documents, he showed off America’s talents at the state banquet. Xi Jinping cannot do any of this. You didn’t see any of the business tycoons from China come because he doesn’t want anybody to upstage him.”
Aside from negotiator-in-chief, Trump was also the resident tour guide. He walked his counterpart down the “Presidential Hall of Fame” to view presidential portraits. In a video posted by the White House, Xi appeared to be laughing as Trump pointed out a picture of an autopen he previously placed on the wall in place of former President Joe Biden’s portrait. Trump spontaneously took Xi on a tour of the newly completed helipad on the South Lawn and even invited him inside the parked Marine One. Instead of answering shouted questions about fentanyl, Iran, tariffs, and political prisoners, Trump told gathered reporters that they had good meetings and that Xi “loves good granite.” The Chinese president slightly smiled and did not respond to questions.
During Thursday’s dinner, Trump invited guests to walk through the construction site that was once the East Wing of the White House and will now become the president’s beloved ballroom.
Trump brought together a wide assemblage for Thursday’s state dinner. Seated with him at the head table were former presidential senior adviser and tech billionaire Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and former Apple CEO Tim Cook. Trump and Xi discussed technology and artificial intelligence throughout the visit. Trump said they agreed on the need to address what he now calls “superintelligence,” in an attempt to rebrand AI. Xi acknowledged that AI must remain in human control. But neither country appears ready to mutually let up on their AI arms race. Instead, both sides agreed to talk about it again in November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Shenzhen.
While Trump wined and dined with Xi, some foreign policy analysts noted that the administration’s actions are speaking louder. Just days before the visit, Trump inked a deal with Greenland and Denmark to have sole occupancy of Greenland. He had earlier argued that China and Russia wanted a strategic foothold on the island.
“There can be no doubt that this new security pact is aimed directly at the Arctic schemes of Russia and Communist China,” founder and CEO of State Armor Michael Lucci told RCP in a statement. Lucci also noted Trump’s ongoing push to cripple Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “President Trump reiterated that Iran will never be allowed to achieve nuclear weapons, effectively pledging to defang the CCP’s top partner and energy supplier in the Middle East as he has already defanged Venezuela, the CCP’s former top partner and energy supplier in the Americas. The United States is meanwhile rapidly eliminating economic dependencies on China and strengthening its position to protect the American homeland and our global allies.”
In a post to Truth Social later in the afternoon, Trump said the meeting “was one of friendship, strength, and success, for both China and the U.S.A.” He also highlighted that he will meet Xi again at APEC in November and at the G-20 in Florida the following month.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
