BEIJING – During a Cabinet meeting in April 2025, weeks after President Donald Trump implemented his signature global tariff agenda that enacted unprecedented 145% levies against China, he called the geopolitical rival the “chief-ripper-off-er.”
That sort of language was nowhere to be found a year later during Trump’s two-day trip to Beijing. Instead, he consistently struck a conciliatory tone when describing his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, even when met with red lines.
“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve, and the relationship is a very strong one,” Trump said during the last stop of his visit, at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese central leadership compound next to Beijing’s Forbidden City. “He’s a man I respect greatly.”