Quote · The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Changes Course After Xi Jinping's Warning
Where this was said
The China Trip, the Thucydides Trap, and the Collapsing Boeing Deal
At 22:07 · chapter starts 21:55
The closing argument is delivered with the mordant relish of someone who has watched a predictable farce play out exactly as predicted. Trump's China visit, Meiselas says, was the most embarrassing presidential visit in modern memory [1] — Ben Meiselas "China buying 25% of pre-war soybean volume: China is buying only 25% of the soybeans it purchased from the US under the Biden administratio…" 23:01 . Xi Jinping used the meeting to educate Trump on the Thucydides trap — the theory that a rising power and an established hegemon are structurally drawn toward war — while Trump nodded along, apparently unaware or unbothered by the condescension. What did Trump get out of it? He claimed a Boeing jet deal. But Xi only agreed to roughly one-quarter of the aircraft previously promised, and now even that diminished deal is reportedly collapsing because China is demanding parts and service guarantees to protect against future US export restrictions — a direct consequence of the trade war Trump started. Meanwhile, China is buying only 25% of the soybeans from the US that it purchased under Biden. Meiselas mock-celebrates these outcomes in Trump's voice — 'China's buying 25% the amount of soybeans. Yeah, we did it!' — before landing the final point: you want more, not less. The Boeing headline says it all: 'Trump's Boeing deal has turbulence in Beijing.'
Despite Trump's celebratory claims after his China visit, Xi Jinping only committed to purchasing roughly one quarter of the Boeing jets previously promised.
China is buying only 25% of the soybeans it purchased from the US under the Biden administration, undercutting Trump's trade victory claims.
Trump's touted Boeing jet deal with China is stalled because Beijing is demanding parts and service guarantees to guard against future US export restrictions.
