For years, being “soft” on China was a political insult hurled across the aisle. Great-power competition ruled. Washington increasingly prepared for the possibility of war with Beijing as the national security world pivoted toward the Indo-Pacific.
The scene in D.C. last week looked markedly different as President Donald Trump attempts to welcome in a new era with the world’s second-biggest superpower and growing adversary — especially when it comes to the ever-changing tech landscape.
Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping with a red carpet and the pomp of a state visit last week, speaking warmly about his relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader as the two sides looked for new areas of cooperation.
“The summit went great — for Xi Jinping,” Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital.
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The reception was striking given how Washington’s leaders have spent years describing the challenge posed by Beijing: Chinese hackers penetrating American networks, state-backed efforts to steal U.S. technology and trade secrets, unfair trade practices and a rapidly expanding military with its sights set on Taiwan.
Gordon Chang, a China analyst and author who has long advocated a harder line toward Beijing, said there was a distinction between keeping lines of communication open with a rival and giving Xi the reception he received in Washington.
“I understand that you have a need for dialogue, but when you have that dialogue, you don’t necessarily have to have all of the ceremony and all the legitimization,” Chang told Fox News Digital. “We can talk to the Chinese, but we don’t need to do it in the way that occurred last week.”
Trump, however, is betting that a warmer relationship with Xi can produce results despite those enduring disputes. The question is how much Beijing’s behavior has actually changed — and what Washington is willing to live with in pursuit of a more stable relationship.
Kennedy explained that “the U.S. got a few small things — agreement to lower tariffs on $60B worth of goods, some purchases of specific items (such as agricultural and coal), the standing up of an AI dialogue, and alignment on major goals with regard to Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.”
“But Xi came away the winner because the current commercial ceasefire works mainly to Beijing’s advantage,” he added. “It gives them time to continue unabated their drive for tech self-reliance, narrow the lead in various sectors, including AI, and maintain an imbalanced commercial relationship with its trading partners.”
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Chang identified the same commodity as particularly valuable to Beijing: time.
“While we talk, we defer taking action,” Chang said. “So China got delay. And that is, I think, absolutely critical.”
The administration has gotten movement from Beijing on some long-running disputes.
China has tightened controls on chemicals used to make fentanyl and, according to the White House, arrested 21 Chinese nationals in August based on information supplied by U.S. law enforcement. Trump is still pressing Xi to permanently restrict additional precursor chemicals, but the steps mark tangible progress on an issue that has bedeviled Washington for years.
Trade is more complicated.
Trump and Xi emerged from last week’s talks with a new list of $30 billion in American products and $30 billion in Chinese products recommended for lower tariffs. For U.S. exporters, that could mean better access to the Chinese market for agricultural products, seafood, timber, cosmetics and medical devices.
But there is a gap between the announcement and its impact. The two countries have agreed to consider favorable tariff treatment for the products — they have not yet put all of those lower tariffs into effect.
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And Washington is still trying to get Beijing to make good on commitments it already made.
Nowhere is that more consequential than critical minerals, where China’s dominance over global supply chains gives it enormous leverage over industries ranging from automobiles to weapons production.
After his May summit with Xi, Trump announced that China had agreed to address U.S. concerns over shortages of rare earths and other critical minerals.
Four months later, the issue remains unresolved.
The White House said after last week’s summit that Washington and Beijing “continue to work” on restoring adequate shipments. No new comprehensive critical-minerals agreement was announced.
“China has not been living up to its commitments on supplying those minerals,” Chang said.
The gap between Washington’s warmer posture and its longstanding concerns about Beijing extends beyond trade.
Ahead of Xi’s visit, Trump was asked about Chinese spying and cyber activity — an issue U.S. officials have spent years describing as one of the most persistent threats from Beijing.
“When they say China spies on us, I say you’re right, and we spy on them too,” Trump said. “They basically do what we do.”
Trump’s own intelligence community describes the threat in markedly different terms.
The intelligence community’s 2026 Annual Threat Assessment calls China the “most active and persistent cyber threat” to U.S. government, private-sector and critical infrastructure networks. U.S. officials have accused Beijing-linked hackers of burrowing into telecommunications networks through the Salt Typhoon campaign and pre-positioning inside critical infrastructure through Volt Typhoon — activity officials have warned could give China the ability to disrupt communications, energy, transportation and water systems in a future crisis.
“Yes, we do spy on each other, but there’s a difference in the spying world,” Chang said.
“There are so-called legitimate targets. That’s the governments of each state, defense contractors. What is not considered legitimate is spying on civilian institutions, NGOs, universities, all the rest of it. China does that.
“I don’t think it’s his job to make excuses for China. His job is to protect the United States.”
Taiwan offers another test of the new relationship.
A roughly $14 billion weapons package for the self-governed island remains in limbo months after Trump described it as a “very good negotiating chip” in his dealings with Beijing. China claims Taiwan as its territory and has continued military activity around the island even as relations with Washington have warmed.
“My sense is that Taiwan is nervous,” Chang said, pointing to the still-pending package. “We still have not had that package green lighted.”
Trump has also looked to Xi for help beyond the Indo-Pacific. U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said Trump warned Xi against Chinese intelligence, components or military assistance reaching Tehran amid the war with Iran and suggested Beijing subsequently took action, saying, “They pulled some things down.”
Perdue did not publicly specify what China curtailed.
The emerging relationship, then, is not simply a story of rapprochement. It is a test of Trump’s wager that engagement with Xi can produce concrete results while managing threats that Washington still considers serious.
So far, that record is mixed.
Beijing has taken steps on fentanyl, and the two countries are exploring lower tariffs on billions of dollars in goods. But China’s critical-minerals commitments remain unresolved. Its cyber operations remain a top U.S. intelligence concern. U.S. defense strategy remains heavily focused on deterring China in the Indo-Pacific, and Taiwan remains one of the most dangerous potential flashpoints between the two powers.
What has changed most dramatically, at least so far, is the relationship at the top — and Trump’s willingness to bet that engagement with Xi can manage those risks better than confrontation alone.
