As Xi meets Trump, who’s winning their trade war?

Xi Jinping heads to Washington this week for talks with Donald Trump, the first time in more than ten years that a Chinese leader has made such a visit to the United States. Trump plans to personally welcome him at Joint Base Andrews upon arrival, an honor reserved for major diplomatic occasions during the three-day stay. Their White House meeting unfolds against a backdrop of an unresolved trade fight between the world's two largest economies, one complicated further by rivalry over artificial intelligence, and a truce from earlier talks in South Korea set to expire November 10, according to Al Jazeera.

Tariff averages mask wide variation: Chinese goods entering the US face a 36.5 percent rate versus 31 percent on American goods heading into China, according to a Congressional Research Service report, with Chinese copper taxed at 73.6 percent and American beef taxed as high as 77 percent entering China. Since the truce, both sides have kept adding restrictions — Washington banning Chinese humanoid robots and sanctioning shipping operators over Iranian fuel, and Beijing countering with sanctions on US firms and curbs on drone exports, saying it had "no choice but to take necessary countermeasures."

US Census Bureau data show bilateral trade fell 29 percent from 2024 to 2025, mainly due to fewer US imports from China, while China's overall exports grew as it redirected trade toward the European Union and ASEAN countries. Huawei is on trial in the US over technology theft allegations.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Al Jazeera’s reporting. Read the full story at Al Jazeera →