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Three major shifts from the Trump-Xi meeting

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) gestures to Chinese President Xi Jinping as he leaves after visiting Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing on May 15, 2026.

Evan Vucci | Afp | Getty Images

Hello, I’m Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the latest edition of The China Connection, a concise summary of what I’m seeing and hearing from local businesses.

US President Donald Trump left Beijing after his highly anticipated two-day visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Vanity aside, what has changed in business life?

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Following last week’s landmark Trump-Xi summit in Beijing attended by more than a dozen American executives, US and Chinese readings agree on one sentence: constructive strategic stability.

So what does this really mean?

James Zimmerman, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, told me that from an economic and trade perspective, the term means “a kind of trade détente.”

In practical terms, it signals intent to talk and creates space to resolve disputes without a return to trade war uncertainty – boosting business confidence, he said.

China has emphasized that the framework will set the tone for at least three years or the remainder of Trump’s presidency.

“This is a fundamental change from the previous unilateral definition of strategic competition,” said Hai Zhao, director of international political studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state-affiliated think tank.

He said the two countries could use the months before Xi’s planned visit to the United States on Sept. 24 to lay the groundwork for greater cooperation on fentanyl, migration, increased human interaction and tourism.

3 big changes

It was not possible to get here without making changes on several fronts.

First, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Trump on his visit to Beijing despite the travel sanctions China imposed on him in 2020, when he was still a senator.

Rubio, who also served interim security consultantZhao said he is currently the “designated contact person.” “So China has no reason [would not] invite him on this trip and work with him [in] future.”

Beijing also hopes Trump can keep anti-China forces at bay at home and maintain bipartisan support for stable U.S.-China relations even after November’s midterm elections, Zhao said.

Second, Beijing has made its conclusion regarding Taiwan clear.

Xi warned Trump that the island, which the Chinese leader described as the biggest problem in US-China relations, could put bilateral relations in “grave danger” if mismanaged.

Trump, meanwhile, rejected the idea that Taiwan should pursue its independence, especially with U.S. support, and urged both sides to “calm down,” according to an interview with Fox News that aired Friday afternoon.

The comments showed a much clearer stance on Taiwan. During the Biden administrationFollowing the President’s comments suggesting otherwise, the White House was forced to reaffirm the long-standing US position.

Third, China is increasingly playing a long-term game on technology.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was tight-lipped on Chinese chip sales when he stopped to talk to reporters on his way to a group meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

Huang said that Trump “asked me to come” and added that he was in Beijing to support the president during the summit.

However, when asked about Nvidia H200 chips, Trump stated that China chose not to purchase them, but left open the possibility that this could change.

“This is a calculated defensive maneuver by President Xi,” Nomura’s Chief China Economist Ting Lu said in a note. he said.

“Beijing is reluctant to lock big tech companies into a US-regulated system that directly enriches the US Treasury with a 25% surcharge and undermines Beijing’s efforts to support China’s own AI chip makers.”

The strategic stakes in the technology race are now becoming clearer, just as China is much better prepared to counter US tariffs in 2025 than in 2018.

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