Trump Battles Against an Economy of His Making
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is Radio Atlantic. I'm Adam Harris, and it's a big week in international politics. World leaders are meeting in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and Chinese President Xi Jinping is coming to Washington for the first time in over a decade, at a moment when China is central to the global conversation around AI. President Trump continues to favor speed over caution to ensure the US can remain ahead on artificial intelligence, but not everyone, including the CEOs leading AI companies, are so sure. The US and China's relationship has been cold to lukewarm since the president returned to office. The nations reached a shaky trade truce last year following Trump's tariff fallout, and other countries have turned to China.
for trade deals amid the turmoil inflicted by his administration's policies. Meanwhile, in the US, Americans are feeling the pain of Trump's economic plans, and a war that is driving up the price of everyday items from gas to groceries. What will all of the meetings this week lead to, if anything? With me to discuss all of this are my colleagues, Atlantic staff writers, Vivian Salama and Roger Karma. Let's get to questions. Vivian Roger, thank you so much for joining me today.
Great to be here.
Great to be here, Adam. Vivian, I I I want to start with you to sort of frame this a little bit for us. What is at stake during this week's meetings between G and Trump?
I mean, the two countries have so much at stake because they basically um thrive in this ecosystem in which they are codependent and yet trying to cooperate with each other at the same time, codependent economically on each other. trying to compete with each other. And trying to um and trying to kind of maintain their status in these as these two global superpowers. And a lot of these um these interests face headwinds. So they're coming in a very strange moment geopolitically, both for President Trump and for President Xi. Um Apart from the fact that they've had this up and down dispute rolling for the last year and a half over trade and tariffs, and in particular, competition about advanced semiconductors and artificial intelligence and just this race for rare earth minerals.
They're both also squeezed economically at home. President Trump obviously has the Iran war very heavy on his mind these days. And he has been frustrated with countries like China and Russia, who are believed to still be propping up the Iranian regime and helping them to sustain um the attacks that the US has launched with Israel, uh, but also the economic impact that has come from this war, where It's basically um sent shockwaves uh across the world and particularly for oil markets that have struggled. You know, that's something that also impacts China as well. Um, inflationary pressures in both countries have been really problematic. And so they're coming to the table with this understanding and this sense that they both really need to do something to help them domestically, first of all.
While also sustaining their ability to kind of do the things that they do um around the world and do so in a way where they're
What is the overall context of the upcoming Xi‑Jinping visit and UN General Assembly meetings?
competing with each other. It's it's a it's a very strange dynamic, but one that President Trump has consistently said is a priority for him and he wants that relationship to thrive.
I I guess how how has the president's posture changed kind of even from that first Trump term, right? It seems that there was, you know, we kind of coming into this term, there was the the outright kind of h hostility with the with the tariffs.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:01
2
What is the overall context of the upcoming Xi‑Jinping visit and UN General Assembly meetings?
4:01–11:41
3
How are the United States and China economically interdependent and why does it matter now?
11:41–24:32
4
Why has President Trump’s stance on China shifted between his first and second terms?
24:32–29:55