Staff Reports
President Donald Trump’s two‑day summit in Beijing with President Xi Jinping is the big show this week. It will touch on trade, AI chips, Taiwan, and Iran. Conservative voices like Carla Sands and Gordon Chang are warning the administration not to fall for friendly optics. They say now is the time to use American leverage — not to hand over our chips and our bargaining power for a photo op.
Why the Trump‑Xi summit matters
This summit is not just a handshake and a state dinner. The agenda includes trade deals, big agricultural purchases, possible aircraft sales, export controls on advanced AI chips, and security questions about Taiwan and Iran. Those are leverage points. The United States has tools — tariffs, sanctions, export controls and banking restrictions — that can shape Chinese behavior. If Washington comes off as weak, Beijing will treat the summit like a checklist of wins.
What Sands and Chang are saying
Hard line, clear eyes
Carla Sands, Chair of the Foreign Policy Initiative and Distinguished Senior Fellow for Energy Policy at the America First Policy Institute, has been out front at CPAC and on conservative networks arguing the Chinese Communist Party is under pressure and that the U.S. should press that advantage. Gordon Chang, a long‑time China watcher, has urged sanctions on Chinese banks tied to bad actors and warned against trusting Beijing’s promises. Both make the same basic point: this summit is a place to show strength, not to trade away key controls for short‑term headlines.
Reality check: strength and weakness on both sides
Let’s be honest. China is not a paper tiger. Beijing controls capital, information, and industry in ways that blunt some pressure. Analysts warn that China’s centralized power and economic size give it real leverage. At the same time, the Communist Party faces long‑term problems like debt, stagnating growth and demographic decline. That mix means the U.S. should use smart pressure — not naive concessions — and protect technologies like advanced AI chips from export that would hand China strategic advantages.
How Washington should act — and what it must avoid
The test for President Trump and his team is simple. Use demands that match leverage. Keep export controls tight, threaten targeted financial measures at banks that facilitate malign activity, and make any commercial deals contingent on verifiable steps that protect American security. Avoid symbolic giveaways that look good in a summit photo but hollow U.S. power. If the administration treats this like a victory lap, Beijing wins the narrative and may have the last laugh. If it treats this like a negotiation with teeth, Washington can walk away with both deals and safeguards.
