President Donald Trump has long been critical of China and its seven unfair trade practices, but he is dialing back on the rhetoric.
Notably, Trump is trying in finalize a reorganization of the global trade order, including with China, and he is seeking a face-to-face meeting with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping before the end of this year.
The latest curb on Chinese market regulations has permitted U.S. chip-making behemoth Nvidia to surge to never seen before heights in stock market valuations
Instead of isolating China, Trump is working the levers of diplomacy and dealmaking to try to pull China in, The New York Times reported.
Both the U.S. and China are "clearly preparing for a summit meeting," Craig Allen, president of the United States-China Business Council told the Times.
"That's bringing forth measures that the other side wants and it's also holding back measures that the other side doesn't want," he said.
"It's like a dance; one side makes a move, the other side makes a move to correspond to that."
There is competitive jockeying to get on the Air Force One delegation for the China meeting, sources told the Times — a scramble that has sidelined China hawks and raised concerns among some officials that Beijing may be gaining leverage.
A lifting of security restrictions is "a significant accomplishment for the Chinese," according to former President George W. Bush export control official Christopher Padilla.
"They've been after this for decades, and now they've succeeded," Padilla told the Times. "I assume the Chinese are going to demand more concessions on export controls in return for whatever we want next."
China's dominance on rare earth mineral mining, pharmaceuticals, solar panels, and drones puts Trump in a difficult position to negotiate the reordering of the global trade order in America's favor.
"The challenge for the Trump administration is how do they get out of this quagmire?" RAND Corporation's Jimmy Goodrich told the Times.
"It appears some competitive U.S. actions are now at the whims of Beijing, who can now determine the time, place, and nature of U.S. tech and trade policy toward China."
Trump maintains a balance on both sides of the China spectrum in his White House. Peter Navarro is the most hawkish against the regime, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are more closely aligned with Trump's positions.
Notably, the Times reported, China hawks on the National Security Council have been fired after having a lack of loyalty to this administration.
White House AI czar David Sacks is an export controls critic, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been lobbying to open up the China market to its world-class chips.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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