What Trump and Xi Didn't Settle in Beijing, With Nicholas Burns

What Trump and Xi Didn't Settle in Beijing, With Nicholas Burns

From The President’s Inbox by Council on Foreign Relations

May 20, 2026 · 35 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the outcomes and implications of the U.S.-China summit, focusing on key issues like Taiwan and economic agreements.

This episode unpacks the key discussion points from the U.S.-China summit, including Taiwan, the Iran war, AI regulation, and the future of U.S.-China relations. Host: James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR Guest: Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government; Former U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (2021–2025) We Discuss: Whether the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing represented a genuine diplomatic breakthrough or merely a cooling of tensions without resolving underlying conflicts. What the dueling U.S. and Chinese post-summit statements reveal about each country's divergent priorities and negotiating strategies. How significant the summit's economic deliverables—agricultural sales commitments, Boeing aircraft sales, and a potential tariff truce—actually are. How Xi Jinping's early and deliberate warning about Taiwan set the tone for the summit, and what his decision to leak that statement mid-meeting signals about Chinese tactics. Whether President Trump's equivocation about U.S. arms sales to…

People in this episode

Host: James M. Lindsay

Guest: Nicholas Burns

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government

Places: U.S., China, Taiwan, Iran

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