Trump Hosts Xi at State Dinner
The Spin
Left narrative
Rolling out a red carpet and showing off a shiny new helipad is showmanship, not statecraft. A two-month tariff truce extension and vague talk about superintelligence leave trade, AI and Taiwan exactly where they were, while Beijing pockets continued restraint on arms sales for nothing in return. Spectacle keeps substituting for leverage, all while the administration fails to make progress on the issues that matter.
Right narrative
The most consequential relationship of this century cannot be managed by silence and sulking, so sitting down face to face is itself a victory. Keeping the truce alive, locking in critical mineral flows and opening channels on artificial intelligence governance and the Strait of Hormuz are real wins being built patiently. Dismissing steady engagement as theater ignores the greater threat of confrontation already being eschewed.
