For the first time in nearly a decade, an American president flew to Beijing to sit across the table from China’s Xi Jinping. The summit was wrapped in pomp — and shadowed by trade, Taiwan, Iran, and the long question of which superpower is really gaining on the other.
Xi Jinping was mentioned in more than 100 podcast episodes the week of the summit. Here’s the story they told.
The Welcome
On The Daily, the New York Times set the stakes before Trump had even landed:
“For the first time in nearly a decade, President Trump will meet with China’s President Xi Jinping.” A meeting almost ten years in the making, freighted with everything that had piled up between the two countries since.
When Trump arrived, the welcome was lavish — and he said so himself:
“President Xi, I want to thank you for that incredible welcoming ceremony.” The red carpet was the message: this was a summit of equals, staged for the cameras of both nations.
“Partners, Not Rivals”
The Global News Podcast from the BBC captured Xi’s framing of the moment:
“In his opening remarks, President Xi said the two countries should be partners, not rivals.” A summit, as the BBC put it, “dominated by the issues of trade, Iran, Taiwan and tech.”
Correspondent Stephen McDonnell noted how Trump’s posture shifted in Xi’s presence:
“Just the way that they shake hands, the way he sort of behaves in Xi Jinping’s presence, it’s like he wants Xi to like him.” The criticism-one-minute, praise-the-next pattern that has defined Trump’s dealings with authoritarian leaders, on display again.
Who Holds the Cards?
On The Daily, veteran national-security correspondent David E. Sanger argued the leverage may have shifted before anyone sat down:
“So I think that Xi Jinping probably feels like he’s already won half his argument before he starts.” A summit is theater, Sanger explained — and the optics of the meeting itself were a win for Beijing.
He also cautioned against reading too much into the deals announced on the day:
“…is to emerge with a bunch of business deals, even if they don’t fundamentally change the nature of a relationship.” The memorandums of understanding make headlines; the structural rivalry underneath them does not move.
The Real Question
For all the pageantry, Sanger landed on the question that outlasts any single summit:
“The overall question is, how do you deal with a country that’s trying to displace you as the world’s number one power?” Trade tensions come and go. The contest over who leads the century is the part that doesn’t.
The Bigger Picture
The Beijing summit didn’t happen in isolation. Iran came up at the table, oil was climbing, and the war that would dominate the following weeks was already reshaping every conversation. As the United States flew home with a handful of business deals, the deeper rivalry it traveled to manage was exactly where it started.
We tracked how allies were already hedging their bets in our earlier piece, America’s Allies Are Moving On Without It.
Search for more podcast coverage of the Trump–Xi summit on Audioscrape.
