Aides say the president is standing up to Beijing. But critics warn he’s created a dangerously tense relationship born out of a chaotic and undisciplined style that has defined many aspects of his presidency.
During Trump’s tenure, China has flexed its muscle — cracking down on democratic rights in Hong Kong, expanding the domestic surveillance and imprisonment of more than a million Muslim Uighurs, expelling foreign journalists, and shutting down a U.S. Consulate in Chengdu after the Trump administration forced the closure of a Chinese compound in Houston.Meanwhile, on Trump’s signature issue, Beijing agreed after a fierce 18-month trade war to purchase $200 billion more in U.S.
Trump’s administration is already taking steps to begin decoupling the world’s two largest economies. During his own U.N. remarks, Xi delivered a rebuke, presenting China as a willing global partner.“Burying one’s head in the sand like an ostrich in the face of economic globalization or trying to fight it with Don Quixote’s lance goes against the trend of history,” Xi said.
Only in mid-March, with uncontrolled outbreaks in major American cities and his response under mounting criticism, did Trump shift his public tone, condemning China’s leaders. But Trump’s closest aides were confident that the president’s self-proclaimed dealmaking skills would carry the day. On the agenda at Mar-a-Lago was setting a timetable for a trade package, as well as Trump’s hopes of enlisting Xi’s help in a new U.S. effort to disarm North Korea of its nuclear arsenal.
Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster rushed to brief reporters, facing questions over whether the timing was intended to deliver an implicit warning to Xi that Trump would be willing to take military action against North Korea if necessary. Xi laid out the full trappings of ceremonial pomp for his American guest — a military procession at the Great Hall of the People and a private performance of the Peking Opera inside the Forbidden City.
“He campaigned under the premise it was all China’s fault,” Cutz said, “but he’s also been very much blaming former presidents for striking bad deals and saying he actually respects the Chinese for getting good deals for themselves.” But Chang added: “What Trump did was — and this is the important part — when he saw China would not reciprocate, he started to defend America. He pivoted.”
In his first week in office, Trump made good on a campaign pledge to yank U.S. support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade pact negotiated by the Obama administration as a bulwark against China’s rising economic clout. Over his first 18 months, Trump also announced plans to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, both of which China has supported.
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