Many Americans are breathing a sigh of relief after the meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping seemed to go well. U.S. farmers, in particular, will be glad that major Chinese purchases of soybeans are going forward.
The benefits of this week’s agreement go far beyond farmers, since many small businesses in the U.S. have a reliance on Chinese suppliers and so will benefit from the lowering of tariffs. Lest we forget, even American high-tech manufacturing, including major parts of the country’s military industrial complex, require a steady supply of Chinese rare earths. Lower tariffs, as well as an apparent pause on planned docking fees for Chinese ships, will also help U.S. consumers by dampening inflation.
Yet if Trump can plausibly claim commercial and economic benefits from this meeting—and many are still reasonably questioning Trump’s tariff strategy as reckless and unnecessary—it must be said that no progress at all is evident on major security issues. To be sure, there is a logic to focusing on the “bread and butter” issues that impact the lives of Americans, but this meeting actually constitutes an opportunity missed. It’s concerning that none of the major issues that could bring Beijing and Washington to blows, whether Taiwan or North Korea or the South China Sea, were even broached.
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