Trump will receive Xi at the White House today. From Taiwan to trade, passing through artificial intelligence: there are many topics to discuss
There is great anticipation for the meeting scheduled for today, at the White House, between Donald Trump And Xi Jinping. The two leaders have not met since last May, when the Chinese president received his US counterpart in Beijing. Here are the main dossiers on the table.
The Taiwan question
According to Reuters, Xiin exchange for help on the Iranian crisis, will try to convince Trump to block arms sales to Taiwan. In particular, the Chinese president will try to make the occupant of the White House adhere to the version that Beijing historically gives of the 1982 joint Sino-American communiqué. In that document, Washington committed to gradually reducing the sale of arms to Taipei. However, the then US president, Ronald Reaganestablished that this reduction was subject to a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan question.
Now, it is no mystery that, in recent years, the People’s Republic has increased its military pressure on the island. Trumpin December, announced the sale of an arms package to Taipei worth around eleven billion dollars. Which greatly irritated Beijing. A few days ago, an American official announced that the US president will soon decide on the fate of a further arms sale to the island.
The challenge of artificial intelligence
AI is notoriously one of the areas in which there is greatest competition between Washington and Beijing. For this reason, this dossier will be at the center of today’s summit. Is Trump That Xi they rejected the apocalyptic narrative that, regarding Artificial Intelligence, has recently been fueled by Anthropic.
Furthermore, the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessentannounced that he had proposed to the People’s Republic the establishment of a “notification system” which aims to limit any risks posed by AI on the national security front. The idea, mutatis mutandisis to create an instrument similar to that of the “red line” at the time of the Cold War.
The issues related to trade
Ahead of today’s summit, the United States and China agreed to begin discussions to reduce tariffs on products considered non-strategic (such as low-tech products). It is also expected that, today, Trump ask Xi both to increase purchases of US agricultural products and to extend by six months the trade truce that the two presidents had stipulated almost a year ago in South Korea. The White House will probably also pressure China to reduce export restrictions on critical minerals.
The People’s Republic, for its part, is irritated by the restrictions imposed by Washington on the import of Chinese technological products. Not only that. Trump will try to convince today Xi to adhere to the new sanctions that the Americans have imposed on Tehran: sanctions that, at least until now, Beijing has viewed with extreme irritation. In fact, let’s not forget that China is the main buyer of Iranian crude oil. And which, like the United States itself, is suffering significant problems due to the high cost of energy caused by the Middle Eastern crisis.
The geopolitical dossiers of Trump and Xi
Xi today he will aim to leverage the difficulties facing the administration Trump. In particular, the American president is struggling to manage the Iranian crisis. Furthermore, Washington is concerned that Beijing increased its commercial exports last month. On the other hand, however, Xi It has its vulnerabilities. The People’s Republic continues to fail to stimulate domestic demand. Furthermore, it still finds itself managing a dangerous real estate crisis, while the data on youth unemployment raise some concerns.
Finally, Beijing saw its influence in the Western Hemisphere wane after the administration Trump it not only pushed Panama out of the Belt and Road Initiative but also ordered the capture of Nicolas Maduro in January. Xi finally, it looks with apprehension at the agreement just signed by Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk on Greenland. In fact, it is an agreement clearly aimed at curbing Chinese influence on the Arctic.
