WASHINGTON—Earlier this week, I shared the five issues that I would be watching to assess whether US President Donald Trump’s trip to China delivered for the United States. Overall, Trump appears to have sidestepped the biggest trap—Beijing’s attempt to box Washington in on Taiwan—but underperformed on everything else. One of the only outcomes of note was China lifting an import ban on US beef, which it has already apparently reversed, or at least scaled down.
The biggest issue
In the first bilateral meeting on the first day of Trump’s visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a blunt Taiwan warning. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s readout of the exchange, Xi called Taiwan the “most important issue in China-US relations.” He then warned Trump to “exercise extra caution,” stating that “otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.” The timing is important: Beijing is trying to convince the Trump administration to delay or cancel a pending US arms sale to Taiwan. Congress has approved two packages: an $11 billion package, which the White House approved in December, and a $14 billion package, which is still awaiting the green light from the White House. Beijing wants to convince Trump that approving the second package will derail US-China relations and the deliverables he was seeking via this summit.
