As President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, Beijing has just concluded its most important political event of the year. Xi emerged triumphant, strengthening his hand ahead of what could be the most consequential diplomatic showdown of 2025.

The stakes are enormous. Bilateral trade is nearly $600 billion . Markets continue to remain jittery about the U.S.-China trade spat, even after cabinet officials patched together a series of rolling truces earlier this year as stopgap measures before a presidential sit-down.

Trump is bullish. He told reporters in Washington last week that “we’ll make a deal on, I think, everything” and echoed that optimism today to a room full of CEOs in South Korea.

Read More: Why Any Deal at th

See Full Page