Gordon Chang Breaks Down Trump-Xi Summit and What’s Next

American Thought Leaders · May 23, 2026 · 52m

In this episode, I sit down with China analyst Gordon Chang to understand his view of the recent Trump–Xi talks in Beijing.

Who had the upper hand? Why did President Donald Trump take 17 CEOs of America’s largest corporations with him? And what was accomplished?

While Xi Jinping tries to present America as a declining power and China as an ascending one, the reality is that China faces several grave problems, Chang says: a collapsing demography, an ailing economy, and a military in disarray after a series of purges.

But China also holds two strong cards: a near-monopoly on rare-earth…