Duo’s lingo: what to watch for in Trump-Xi summit

The Economist's Intelligence podcast previews an upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, sets against a backdrop of fragile US-China relations, while also covering Coca-Cola's edge over Pepsi in the soda market and the political tensions erupting at the Venice Biennale art festival.

Trump-Xi Summit: Low Expectations Amid High Stakes

US-China relations hit a nadir last year with tariffs exceeding 100% on each other's goods, threatening to halt bilateral trade and spark a global recession. China retaliated with export controls on rare earths, disrupting global industry. A truce holds until November 2025, prompting urgent diplomacy. This Beijing summit, the first of four planned this year and the first US leader visit to China in nearly a decade, aims to build a more sustainable economic arrangement rather than a grand bargain.

Expectations have tempered due to mutual suspicion. Focus centers on trade: China may announce large purchases of US Boeing aircraft, beef, and soybeans—the "three Bs." The US seeks balanced trade via a proposed "board of trade" to manage low-tariff goods flows, targeting China's surplus, which has halved from $450 billion in 2018 to $200 billion today. Tariffs likely persist, but the goal is stability—no escalations—and mutual easing of export controls.