Taiwan Arms, Rare Earths, Tariffs And Iran Hang Over Trump-Xi Summit

Taiwan arms sales, rare earth supplies, tariffs and the war with Iran are hanging over President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington as the two leaders try to steady relations while bargaining over major economic and national security disputes.

Trump welcomed Xi to the White House Thursday for the Chinese leader’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade and their second summit this year. The meeting follows Trump’s May trip to Beijing, where the two leaders agreed to pursue what the White House described as a “constructive relationship of strategic stability.”

“Beyond any single deal or agreement, I think what Xi seeks most from Trump is a willingness to continue coming to the negotiation table,” Allen Zhang, a research assistant in the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “If they can secure that, Beijing walks away with a small, but important win. It gives Xi, and also Trump, a way of managing differences and keeping underlying tensions in check. “

The U.S.-China relationship is defined by a basic contradiction: decades of trade integration left American consumers and industries deeply reliant on Chinese manufacturing and supply chains even as Washington increasingly treats Beijing as its principal long-term strategic competitor and works to reduce those dependencies, according to the White House’s National Security Strategy.

“Well, it’s no surprise that each side has serious reservations about the other — for the U.S., those concerns include whether China will cut off access to rare earths, fulfill their promise to buy American soybeans and meats, and whether Beijing will abide by the trade truce,” Zhang told the DCNF. “At the same time, the U.S. and Chinese economies are so interconnected that both parties have no choice but to come to the negotiating table.”

That tension makes maintaining stable relations with Beijing economically important even as Washington simultaneously tries to insulate critical industries and defense supply chains from Chinese leverage, according to the White House. 

“If you visit Home Depot or auto parts stores or you name it, you know that stuff still comes from China,” Ker Gibbs, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, told the DCNF. “Probably 60% of our furniture still comes from China, about 80% of our toys, if you look at tools probably about 60% comes from China, so a lot of that stuff is just not gonna change.”

“China needs the continued stabilization of bilateral relations,” Yun Sun, senior fellow and co-director of the East Asia Program and director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, told the DCNF. “It wants to put a lid on the Taiwan issue, and keeps U.S. on a stable footing so it does not create disturbance. Xi wants to keep the positive and stable momentum going.”

Beijing shares Washington’s interest in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, restoring the free flow of oil and bringing greater stability to the Middle East, Chinese diplomats told Gibbs.