Goodbye, ‘China Plus One’: The Real Change in US China Policy
President Donald Trump greeted President Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews on September 23 for a state visit, and at their May summit in Beijing the two leaders agreed to build a constructive relationship of strategic stability. References to China Plus One have nearly vanished in Washington, and China-U.S. trade fell by around 30 percent in 2025 alone, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
Why it matters: The change in Washington's vocabulary indicates that US-China relations are being reframed around strategic stability rather than decoupling.