Trump’s Vanity Summit With Xi

While expectations for the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were low, it was disappointing to watch them prioritize pageantry over substance. Trump’s cringe-worthy declarations of heartfelt admiration for Xi reflect his twisted sense that the trappings of power are power itself. NEW HAVEN—Long on ceremony but short on substance, the eagerly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was a disappointment. Perhaps not a major disappointment, as expectations were generally low, and as some talk is certainly better than no talk. But on the major issues of trade, AI, Taiwan, and addressing China’s role in two theaters of war, there was little or no progress. Instead, ceremonial flourishes substituted for substance, unmasking the summit as yet another Trump vanity project. On trade, the two-month extension of the current truce—initially negotiated nearly a year ago in South Korea—was surprisingly short, implying that tariff uncertainty remains high. Pre-summit chatter hinted at an extension of 6–12 months. Moreover, there were expectations of another round of Chinese purchases of US agricultural exports. Instead, the two countries made a joint post-summit announcement to cut tariffs on a total of $60 billion of “non-sensitive” goods, including US imports of electric blankets and magic tricks and Chinese imports of eels and emus. On AI, the biggest issue facing civilization, there was no meeting of the minds. The two superpowers committed to a loosely structured dialogue and dangled the possibility of an unspecified “hotline” for AI-related national-security issues. This bare-minimum achievement is far from the major breakthrough on AI safety many had hoped for—especially in the aftermath of the recent Hugging Face hacking incident and reports of other intrusions that have led some AI insiders to raise human extinction concerns. The disappointing outcome of the summit—which merely paid lip service to such risks—is hardly surprising considering that Trump has doubled down on his hands-off approach to AI regulation. Continue Reading