The Trump–Xi summit: less a deal, more an uneasy truce
Bruegel Senior Fellow Alicia Garcia-Herrero describes the October 30 meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi as a fragile truce that yielded limited economic gains, including modest tariff cuts and partial easing of Chinese rare earth export controls. She argues that while China retains strategic leverage, Trump’s turn toward military signalling—through nuclear testing and reinforced alliances—marks a shift from economic to hard-power rivalry.
