Simone McCarthy
Chinese leader Xi Jinping speaks during meeting of senior Communist Party leadership earlier this month. Xie Huanchi/Xinhua/AP
Beijing —
For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a landmark meeting with Donald Trump expected this week is a moment to showcase something Beijing has long sought: China standing as an equal to the United States on the global stage.
The US president’s trade war against China has challenged Xi’s drive for growth and innovation, but it’s also given Beijing the unintended gift of a bright spotlight under which to flex its economic strength.
As much of the rest of the world scrambled to flatter Trump and negotiate down global tariffs he unleashed this spring, China fought back with its own measures – until both sides were forced to the table for a truce.
In recent weeks, after US rules hit China’s access to American technology and targeted its shipping industry, Beijing fired back by announcing a sweeping expansion of export controls on critical rare earth minerals – a move that rattled Washington and pushed Trump to threaten to pile an additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods.
Both sides have appeared to climb down from that latest escalation following eleventh-hour trade talks between top negotiators this weekend in Malaysia.
Xi and Trump are now set to meet on the sidelines of an international summit in South Korea Thursday – their first face-to-face meeting of Trump’s second term, where they’re expected to agree to a framework for managing their economic ties.
It’s not yet clear what each side has agreed to concede to get to that point – and this is just one touchstone in a complex and volatile competition between superpowers.
But it will also be a moment where Xi is entering the room after cementing a new reality in US-China relations: China will negotiate, but it won’t be cowed.
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