The US-China relationship has stabilised but on Beijing’s terms
Donald Trump met Xi Jinping last week, and the Chinese readout reiterated "constructive strategic stability" as the concept framing the relationship's next phase, with cooperation as the primary track and competition kept within bounds. Xi said the Thucydides Trap can be overcome and that competition should be a race of catching up rather than a wrestle in which one either wins or loses. Trump called it a "great meeting" and revived the "friendship" trope.
Why it matters: The meeting is presented as cementing a managed rivalry in great-power competition, in which China sets the boundaries while Washington, constrained by rare earth dependence, market jitters and an election calendar, accepts stabilisation over confrontation.