Can Trump’s China Outreach Salvage His Midterm Political Prospects?
4 min readMay 18, 2026 03:29 PM IST First published on: May 18, 2026 at 03:29 PM IST The drumbeat around US President Donald Trump’s visit to China seemed louder than deserved, given what was finally delivered. But perhaps that was the intention. The gap in a US presidential visit to China — nine years — and the power-packed business delegation that accompanied the President definitely seemed worthy of the hype before the summit. However, close watchers of US-China relations cautioned that any expectation of a breakthrough in bilateral relations between the two largest economies and military powers of the world should be tempered by structural realities. Yet, Trump brought a fresh approach to the table through calibrated pressure on China that could provide economic openings for the US government and companies. The visit did not resolve any of the long-standing issues for obvious reasons. Some theorists would argue that both the US and China may have reached a plateau when it comes to the positive aspects of the relationship, while the competitive framework of …
