US-China Showdown: Xi Jinping Seeks Global Equal Status in Landmark Trump Meeting

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping is approaching his anticipated landmark meeting with US President Donald Trump this week as a critical opportunity to cement Beijing’s long-sought status as an equal global power to the United States.

Set to meet on the sidelines of an international summit in South Korea on Thursday—their first face-to-face meeting of Trump’s second term—the two leaders are expected to agree on a framework for managing their volatile economic ties.

The meeting follows weeks of escalating tension after the US imposed new rules targeting China’s access to American technology and shipping. China retaliated by announcing a sweeping expansion of export controls on critical rare earth minerals, a move that rattled Washington and prompted Trump to threaten additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods.

However, both sides signaled a de-escalation after “eleventh-hour” trade talks in Malaysia this weekend, with reports suggesting the US would pull back its 100% tariff threat and extend an earlier tariff truce, while China would defer its rare earth controls.

Shipping containers from a state-linked Chinese company are seen stacked at the Port of Los Angeles earlier this month.

The core message from Beijing is clear: China will negotiate, but it will not be “cowed,” having cemented a new, more equal reality in the bilateral relationship.

While Trump touts his ability to “create leverage” through tariffs—which currently average upwards of 50% on Chinese goods—Beijing sees success in its own strategy of self-sufficiency and strategic dominance.

Rare Earth Leverage: China leveraged its strategic control over the global rare earths supply chain to counter US high-tech export controls.

Diversification: Beijing has actively diversified trade to reduce dependency on the US market.

Tech Self-Sufficiency: China is accelerating a top-down drive for industrial and technological self-sufficiency, a major goal of its upcoming five-year plan.

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University, suggested the confrontation is forcing Washington to recognize a new global reality: “The US is not the dominant power anymore.”

US President Donald Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka in 2019.

Chinese analysts maintain a “calm” front, with Wang Wen of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies stating that while the US remains a major partner, it is “losing its importance” in China’s economic landscape.

Analysts predict Xi’s top priorities for the meeting will be securing a reduction in US tariffs and a rollback of export controls. To achieve this, China may be willing to ease the rare earths controls, which Shanghai-based foreign affairs analyst Shen Dingli says were imposed specifically to “coerce the US to not to put sweeping sanctions on China.”

China’s top diplomat Wang subtly underscored the need for mutual recognition in his recent call with a US official, stating that moving the relationship forward requires “Upholding the spirit of equality, respect, and mutual benefit.”

The success of Thursday’s meeting may ultimately hinge on the personal chemistry between the two “strongmen,” who last met in 2019, as Beijing seeks the kind of respect and warmth from Trump he has recently shown other world leaders.