Xi steers China-US relations toward stability

BALLAST

Economic and trade relations should continue to serve as the "ballast" and driving force for China-US relations, rather than a stumbling block or a point of friction, Xi told Trump in Busan, South Korea, in 2025. Xi has often likened China-US relations to a giant ship, for which ballast is critical to staying on course through rough waters.

Following the surge of US tariffs in 2025, Beijing responded with resolute countermeasures while continuing negotiations with Washington in an effort to manage their differences. By the time Xi and Trump met in Beijing, their economic and trade teams had reached "generally balanced and positive outcomes."

The dialogue has continued since, with their latest round of talks, which were candid, in-depth and constructive, concluded in New York on Sunday.

There is no winner in a trade war, Xi has repeatedly stressed, both in his exchanges with Trump and on the international stage. "Facts will prove that decoupling and cutting off supply chains will not hold back our development process, and espousing 'small yard, high fences' will only box oneself in and divide the world," Xi said at the just-concluded BRICS summit in New Delhi.

That message also lay at the center of Xi's outreach to the American business community. In March 2024, he met with representatives from US business, strategic and academic communities in Beijing. He told the gathering that the respective success of China and the United States is an opportunity for each other.

During the May visit, Xi sat down with Trump in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing alongside more than a dozen executives from some of America's most preeminent companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla and Boeing.

Trump introduced the business leaders to Xi one by one, underscoring the weight he attached to the delegation.

"Each side, the United States and China, has a big stake in constructive strategic stability," said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a US scholar and longtime observer of China.

From artificial intelligence and climate change mitigation to public health and counter-narcotics, there are plenty of issues that China and the United States are both involved in, he added.

Rather than expecting Washington and Beijing to suddenly work together perfectly, Kuhn said, the more immediate objective should be to prevent disputes over tariffs, critical minerals, and other issues that could lead to further escalation.