‘Hostile, but hooked’: What’s behind the US-China trade truce extension?

The red carpet was rolled out, and a trade truce was extended. Yet, beneath the pomp and pageantry of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit with US leader Donald Trump on Thursday, Washington and Beijing remain locked in a much deeper strategic rivalry.Xi arrived in Washington, DC on Wednesday evening for talks on Thursday, and Trump was there to meet him personally on the tarmac.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4China’s Xi visits US as Trump bets on stabilising global relationslist 2 of 4Trump and Xi summit will focus on ‘stabilising’ ties, experts saylist 3 of 4Trump-Xi summit: Here’s what’s on the agenda, and why it matterslist 4 of 4China vs US: Who is winning the AI race, in four chartsend of listThe meeting was the first state visit by a Chinese leader to the US in 11 years. But it is also the third time in less than a year that the two men have met face to face, as the two powers remain uneasily gridlocked in competition over AI, rare-earth metals, the question of Taiwan, and the Iran war.Overhanging it all is the paused, but simmering, trade war between their two nations.Almost as soon as Trump began his second term in the White House in January 2025, up we...