May 26, 2026
Joschka Fischer
Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing has further demonstrated the relative weakness of the United States and the West vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China and the Global South. While Chinese President Xi Jinping is surely happy with the outcome, Europe now has even more reasons to worry about its future.
BERLIN—On his recent trip to Beijing, US President Donald Trump, the world’s most powerful person, was accompanied by many of the top names in American business, finance, and technology, all of whom understand the importance of maintaining a working relationship with China. For the rest of the world, this was a positive development, because we should all want the world’s two biggest powers to speak directly to each other. Trump’s Chinese hosts showered him with pomp and circumstance—including flag-waving children—and he repaid the favor by lavishing praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping.
