Trump-Xi Summit: Analysis of Historic China Trip Amid Global Tensions

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]Next, rounding up President Donald Trump's visit to Beijing last week. His meeting with Chinese regime leader Xiinping was framed by the Iran War, tensions in the Taiwan Strait, ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, and more. Here to discuss is political analyst and host of Ringside Politics, Jeff Kruer. Jeff, it's good to have you back. Before we go into the president's China visit, uh, give us your assessment of Republican Senator Bill Cassid's primary loss in your state of Louisiana yesterday.

[00:00:31]>> Right.

[00:00:32]Well, I mean, it really, uh, was something that, uh, we've been expecting. Uh, you know, when he voted to convict President Trump, uh, he really, uh, became very unpopular among Louisiana Republicans. And then he tried to make amends uh over the past few months by by working with the president but it really was too late. Uh he had already uh become persona nonrad and uh there was a large uh block of Republican voters that wanted to send him packing.

[00:01:03]About 76% of Republican voters did not support Cassidy.

[00:01:08]So, what I predict though over the next nine months while he's still in in in the Senate, uh he's going to be a thorn in the president's side, he's going to go back to being the real Bill Cassidy, uh which is, you know, very moderate, uh much like Susan Collins and Lisa Marowski, and uh he's going to be a hard vote to get for the president's legislation.

[00:01:37]Coming back to President Trump's visit to Beijing, he told Brett Bearer on Fox News that the most important thing to come out of the meeting was their relationship, adding that relationship is everything in dealmaking. What do you think was the most important thing to come out of this meeting, Jeff?

[00:01:54]>> Well, you know, even Reagan talked to Gorbachoff. Uh, you know, we've been doing summits with uh our enemies for a long time. Uh the president met with Kim Jong-un of uh North Korea. So it's good to uh talk. Uh this is our foremost adversary. Obviously a a very dangerous communist regime. Uh there wasn't a lot of concrete agreements. There wasn't a lot of uh successes that we could point to uh other than you know having the dialogue other than the relationship between the two men. you know, China is still doing uh things to their own population that are a violation of human rights. I mean, they're they're still a bad actor on the world stage, obviously, but it's a it's a our foremost enemy.

[00:02:43]So, it's good that we're we're talking and uh we'll see if any of this materializes, whether it be Iran, whether it be trade. Uh but right now, I mean, nothing concrete uh has been agreed to.

[00:03:01]Jeeoff, here's a sound bite of President Trump speaking to Fox News about trade with China.

[00:03:06]>> Uh trade has been very strong. We're getting a lot of soybeans for our farmers. We're doing a lot of uh there's a lot of things happening with for the farmers. He committed to 200 Boeings, big ones, 777s and 737s and a lot of big uh big ones, big beautiful Boeing planes. 200, that's a lot. uh with a commitment that if they do a good job, we could go up to 750.

[00:03:31]>> The president also says China will buy US oil. Is that a win?

[00:03:36]>> I mean, if it all materializes, I mean, yeah, we'll see. I mean, we'll see if they buy more planes. I mean, we'll see if they fulfill their commitments. Uh I mean, that's that's been a been a problem in the past. Uh a lot of these commitments haven't been fulfilled.

[00:03:50]Let's not forget we've got a huge uh trade deficit still with China and uh you know it's a it's a country that uh obviously we're not on a level playing field with as far as trade and I know the president has been really concerned about you the trade imbalances that we've had with countries across the world. So getting them to agree to uh buy more American products uh is a good thing. We'll see if they follow through on their commitments because in the past, China has not followed through on commitments and uh that's sort of been a history of their uh their rule. So uh we'll see if this materializes. Chris, now an Epoch Times report states that China's security for this state visit was significantly greater than even Trump's 2017 visit. some 2,000 security personnel on site there shutting down large parts of Beijing just for this.

[00:04:46]What do you make of the security and the pageantry surrounding this event?

[00:04:50]>> Well, that was really what uh struck me.

[00:04:53]A lot of pageantry, a lot of uh ceremony, uh a lot of rolling out the red carpet, uh which of course President Trump likes all of that. Uh but I'm glad that security was heightened because obviously the president uh has been receiving threats worldwide. Uh you know he just had another assassination attempt at the White House correspondence dinner. Uh he's uh survived several others. So we need to make sure that he is fully protected and uh and that is certainly a concern when you go to a country like China where you have uh people in that country that uh we can't trust. So, I uh I'm glad he's back home. I I was worried about his safety over there. A lot of people that I talked to were worried as well. So, uh we'll see again if this turns out to be the big home run that uh he says it uh it was. But right now, as far as you know, concrete accomplishments of the visit, uh it's still to be determined, Chris, as to whether all of this will materialize. And then of course you have the question of all those business leaders there and um there's a big controversy as to whether that was a good idea or not.

[00:06:11]>> Now Chinese Communist Party leader Xiinping said during the visit that Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Strait are as irreconcilable as fire and water which are very irres irreconcilable. How does that jive with the US stance towards Taiwan?

[00:06:28]Well, from what uh I can tell, our our stance toward Taiwan has not changed. Uh you know, we've got a very delicate uh relationship. I mean, we have to uh you know, walk this tight rope as far as uh how we treat Taiwan and China. So, uh it seems like uh although there was worry that maybe we have backed away from Taiwan, that according to administration officials, we have not. Uh obviously this is uh still a goal of uh China and uh nothing has changed there. So uh I'm glad to to hear from administration officials that our stance concerning Taiwan has not changed and there was some initial reporting that maybe the president uh had uh somehow backed away from support of Taiwan uh during his negotiations, his uh conversations with withQi.

[00:07:28]And Jeff, just wrapping up here, how does the the meeting between Trump and she leave things with the Iran war?

[00:07:37]>> Well, that's another area to be determined. uh because I think there was a lot of hope that China would uh somehow use their influence with Iran to try to bring this war to a uh to an end which uh I think would be in the best interest of everyone uh to end this war.

[00:07:54]It looks like it could be ratcheting up again very soon because you know Iran is not uh looking to make a deal. Looks like they're uh you know have a very hard and fast position and don't seem to want to negotiate. So, it looks like we're going to have to go back to using military action. And the hope was that China would uh use our influence to help bring the war uh with Iran to an end.

[00:08:19]The president talked about uh future cooperation. They released a statement that did not indicate that they're going to cooperate. They just said the war should have never started. So, we'll see. Chris, I mean, I'm I'm hopeful that uh we can have some kind of influences that'll bring uh this war to a successful conclusion and open up the Straight of Hormuz again, which is what we're going to need to bring down energy prices.

[00:08:47]>> All right, political analyst Jeff Kawer, thank you so much for your time.

[00:08:51]>> Thanks, Chris.