Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to great fanfare but left with little to show for it. What does the Trump-Xi summit reveal about the balance of power between the world’s two biggest economies?
China scholar Rana Mitter joined FP Live’s Ravi Agrawal to debrief on what was gained from this diplomatic mission.
Watch the interview at ForeignPolicy.com: foreignpolicy.com/live/rana-mitter-trump-xi-summit
0:00 Intro
1:53 Takeaways from the summit
3:53 CCP messaging
7:01 Body language & symbolism
9:46 Trump’s strategy
12:25 Chinese media
15:21 Taiwan
22:40 Trump’s China doctrine
26:17 U.S.-China trade war
29:45 Iran war
33:58 Putin’s visit to Beijing
38:29 How China sees the U.S.
On the go? Listen to FP Live as a podcast at link.chtbl.com/foreignpolicylivepodcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
FP Live is Foreign Policy's forum for live journalism that brings leading foreign-policy experts and thinkers together to analyze the world's biggest events. Visit foreignpolicy.com/live for the full conversation and more live journalism from Foreign Policy.
Subscribe to Foreign Policy's Youtube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC1x_EgZtYkAzVavuONBrLZQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
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U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to great fanfare but left with little to show for it. What does the Trump-Xi summit reveal about the balance of power between the world’s two biggest economies?
China scholar Rana Mitter joined FP Live’s Ravi Agrawal to debrief on what was gained from this diplomatic mission.
Watch the interview at ForeignPolicy.com: foreignpolicy.com/live/rana-mitter-trump-xi-summit
0:00 Intro
1:53 Takeaways from the summit
3:53 CCP messaging
7:01 Body language & symbolism
9:46 Trump’s strategy
12:25 Chinese media
15:21 Taiwan
22:40 Trump’s China doctrine
26:17 U.S.-China trade war
29:45 Iran war
33:58 Putin’s visit to Beijing
38:29 How China sees the U.S.
On the go? Listen to FP Live as a podcast at link.chtbl.com/foreignpolicylivepodcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
FP Live is Foreign Policy's forum for live journalism that brings leading foreign-policy experts and thinkers together to analyze the world's biggest events. Visit foreignpolicy.com/live for the full conversation and more live journalism from Foreign Policy.
Subscribe to Foreign Policy's Youtube Channel: youtube.com/channel/UC1x_EgZtYkAzVavuONBrLZQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit foreignpolicy.com to read the latest global news and analysis from FP.
Follow Foreign Policy:
X - twitter.com/ForeignPolicy
Instagram - instagram.com/foreignpolicymag
Facebook - facebook.com/foreign.policy.magazine
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/foreign-policy-magazine
TikTok - tiktok.com/@foreignpolicymagazine
