The headlines called it a diplomatic breakthrough. A leading China expert calls it something else.

Scott Kennedy, Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and one of America’s foremost authorities on the Chinese economy, with 38 years of on-the-ground experience in China, joins Maryanne Maldonado to break down what actually happened at the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, and what was conspicuously left unsaid.

The two sides agreed to a framework of “constructive strategic stability.” But Kennedy argues that framework is far more comfortable for Beijing than Washington. China used rare earth restrictions to force the US to retreat on tariffs and export controls, and in doing so, grabbed control of the dial that sets the temperature of the entire relationship. Now both sides hold it. And Taiwan, Iran, human rights, and Chinese industrial policy were all quietly sidelined in favor of soybeans, beef, and Boeing contracts.

What does this summit mean for Taiwan? For Iran? For the future of AI competition between the world’s two superpowers? And when historians look back in five years, what will this moment actually represent?

 Hosted by Maryanne Maldonado | The Greater Loop — A podcast of the World Affairs Council of Houston

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 Topics covered:

• Was the Beijing summit a turning point or a tactical pause?
• How China used rare earths to force US concessions
• What “constructive strategic stability” actually means to Beijing
• The G2 framework — and why China is quietly thrilled
• Taiwan: why anxiety spiked after the summit
• Iran, the Middle East & why Washington needed Beijing’s help
• AI safety dialogue — what was agreed and what it means
• Trade deals: Boeings, beef, soybeans & energy purchases
• The bigger framing shift that will define US-China relations for years