MERICS Media Briefing: Trump-Xi Summit

MERICS hosted a MERICS Media Briefing on Tuesday, May 12th from 9:00-9:30 CEST, as US President Donald Trump is set to meet Xi Jinping in his first visit to China since 2017.

The meeting, originally delayed due to the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, arrives at a moment of deep structural tension between the world's two largest economies, with disputes over trade tariffs, rare earth access, Taiwan, and AI technology still unresolved. What makes this summit uniquely complex is the Iran war looming over the agenda. The ongoing conflict has inadvertently strengthened China's negotiating hand, and Washington is pressing Beijing to use its leverage with Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

MERICS Heads of Program Jacob Gunter (Economy and Industry) and Helena Legarda (Foreign Relations) assessed what this summit means for the trajectory of US-China relations, the outlook for global trade, and the broader implications of an Iran conflict that is reshaping great power dynamics. The session was moderated by Claudia Wessling, Director of Communications & Publications at MERICS.