The Trump-Xi Summit (Bonus)

The Trump-Xi Summit (Bonus)

From History As It Happens by Martin Di Caro

May 20, 2026 · 6 min

About this episode

The episode analyzes the recent summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping, highlighting the lack of substantive breakthroughs despite discussions on pressing issues.

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 16-minute episode (or preview 6 minutes). President Trump is the eighth U.S. president to visit China since Richard Nixon's bold gamble to establish diplomatic relations with the Communist country in 1972. During his two-day summit with Xi Jinping last week, Trump's first China trip since 2017, the two leaders praised one another and discussed several pressing issues, but they came away with few, if any, substantive breakthroughs. Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft offers his post-summit analysis.

People in this episode

Host: Martin Di Caro

Guest: Anatol Lieven

Topics covered

  • U.S.-China relations
  • diplomacy
  • political analysis
  • international relations
  • summit discussions

Keywords

  • Trump
  • Xi Jinping
  • China
  • summit
  • diplomatic relations
  • Anatol Lieven
  • politics
  • international relations

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Places: China, United States

More episodes of History As It Happens

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the History As It Happens podcast page.