Trump softens tone on Xi ahead of state dinner despite US-China rivalry

Donald Trump has adopted a warmer public tone towards Xi Jinping ahead of a White House state dinner. The outreach underscores his reliance on personal diplomacy even as US-China competition sharpens and concrete outcomes remain uncertain.US President Donald Trump, who built his first White House campaign on attacking China, is now speaking warmly about Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a state dinner for him on Thursday. The shift has come even as Washington and Beijing remain locked in a wider contest over trade, technology and global influence.Trump has softened his public approach to Xi on several issues and has leaned on personal diplomacy after his earlier tariff push failed to change China’s behaviour. While the White House has pointed to some symbolic gains, it is still unclear whether Xi’s visit will produce any specific policy or trade outcome beyond the relationship itself.When Trump first ran for office, he cast China as a threat to the US economy, saying it had hollowed out American factories and weakened the middle class. But in recent weeks, he has spoken in markedly different terms about Xi. "He’s a great gentleman; we get along great," Trump said this month. "We have a very good trading relationship and, you know, they’re a competitor and all of that, but we have a very good relationship with President Xi."On issue after issue, Trump has avoided attacking Xi directly. He brushed aside reports that China had given Iran satellite imagery, saying, "I think he’s behaved reasonably well." After accusing Beijing in 2020 of accessing US voter files, Trump also suggested he was reluctant to retaliate, saying, "I think China is maybe a little bit different today than it was then." Trump’s softer tone has come at a time when the US and China are competing for global leadership and some long-standing US allies are rethinking their strategies. China has expanded its hold over manufacturing and moved further into technologies such as artificial intelligence and electric vehicles, creating risks for the economies of the US, Germany, Italy, France, South Korea and Japan, among others.After failing to alter Beijing’s conduct, Trump has increasingly turned to hospitality. He travelled to Beijing in May, and the two leaders could meet twice more this year at international summits. Ahead of Xi’s arrival, Trump has prepared a helipad on the White House South Lawn and has said he regrets that his ballroom will not be ready to host the Chinese leader. Trump had tried to confront China through rising tariffs, but that effort did not succeed. China, which has a relative monopoly over rare earths used in electronics, used that position to help force a trade armistice with the US. "Trump has dramatically shifted his approach to China because his initial attempt to use super-high tariffs and export restrictions was unsuccessful," said Michael Kovrig, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group and a former Canadian diplomat who was detained by China during Trump’s first term. "Xi and Trump got into a contest of leverage, and Xi came out on top."Kovrig said Trump has also weakened the economic and security alliances that had previously helped the US put pressure on China. Trump has mocked French President Emmanuel Macron in speeches, shifted his tone on NATO after several members did not fully back his decision to start a war with Iran, and opened a sharp trade fight with Canada while taunting it as the 51st American state. "He’s executing Xi’s wedge tactics for him, and along the way, helping Xi to tell a story about China as the more stable and responsible power," Kovrig said. "It’s led to a wave of Western leaders visiting Beijing and seeking to stabilise and improve their relations with Xi so they can focus more on dealing with problems Trump is causing them."At the same time, Trump can point to some symbolic gains from maintaining a cordial relationship with Xi. While Xi met Democratic President Joe Biden three times on the sidelines of international summits, Trump will have achieved a pair of reciprocal state visits, signalling that the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies are comfortable speaking to each other. Census Bureau figures show the trade imbalance in goods with China has fallen compared with the same period in 2025, although the administration has said China appears to be rerouting more goods through countries such as Vietnam to reduce the impact of tariffs.Even so, the tariffs have not curbed China’s manufacturing sector. China has found new markets and pushed out competition from other industrialised countries. Last year, it exported more goods to the rest of the world with a USD 1.2 trillion global trade surplus, while its low-priced electric vehicles undercut auto sectors in Germany, Japan and South Korea.Both countries are also using their trade truce to regroup. China is building up its military and AI capabilities despite limited access to advanced computer chips, while the Trump administration is pursuing partnerships to develop rare earth supplies. Trump is also betting on the US moving ahead aggressively on AI despite voter resistance to data centres and recent safety warnings from leading AI companies. He wrote on social media this week that anyone who slowed AI development was helping China because the technology would be "the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History -- Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet."China, however, has also been accused of allowing its AI companies to train on US models, raising concerns for the US if AI becomes central to global economic power. Still, Attorney General Todd Blanche said at the White House last week that it was "unfair to just label China as a country" as being a "bad actor" on AI. Asked whether Trump would raise the issue with Xi, Blanche said, "Those two presidents have a great relationship. ... They get along, they make deals together."State visits often come with clear policy or trade deliverables, but it is not yet known what Thursday’s meeting will produce. Evan Medeiros, a Georgetown University professor and former National Security Council director on China in the Obama White House, said the main outcome could simply be the relationship itself rather than measurable goals. "We have this idiosyncratic president who believes in personal relationships and just wants to get along with Xi Jinping for the optics of getting along with him," Medeiros said. "The problem is that this idiosyncratic approach is coming at precisely the time when we really need to be amping up all dimensions of our competition."For now, Trump’s warmer approach to Xi stands in contrast to the fierce language that first defined his politics. As Xi arrives for Thursday’s state dinner, the US and China remain rivals on trade, technology and power, while the extent of any concrete outcome from the visit is still unclear.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 20, 2026 10:38 IST