September 13, 2026
How President Donald Trump’s summit with China’s Xi Jinping can yield dividends
The next U.S.-China summit is scheduled for Sept. 24 in Washington, D.C., and expectations are low. It will be Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first White House visit in more than 10 years and will include a state dinner with all the related pageantry.
President Donald Trump will enter these talks considerably weakened by an Iran war that shows little prospect for resolution. Still, relations with China are somewhat of a bright spot in an otherwise bleak foreign policy landscape.
Despite dire predictions of crisis and even war, the two superpowers have kept their differences in check and even achieved some progress. At the September summit, Trump and Xi should strengthen the framework of “constructive stability” that they agreed to in Beijing in May.
This new formula has proved more promising than the “guardrails” approach favored by Joe Biden as president, whose often-inflated framing of global situations, at one point comparing Taiwan to NATO allies, did not endear himself to Chinese leaders.
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