The summit between the leaders of the United States and China in Beijing this week represents a pivotal moment for a global economy that has been upended by war and trade tension over the past year.
President Trump and China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, will have a full agenda to cover, as the world’s two largest economies look for ways to cooperate on geopolitical matters and tamp down differences over tariffs, export controls, Taiwan, sanctions and purchases of American farm products.
Mr. Trump will be seeking to open China’s market to American businesses. But he also wants China to use its leverage over Iran as a top customer for the country’s oil to compel Iranian leaders to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Xi will most likely be seeking more tariff relief from the United States, a softening of American sanctions targeting Chinese buyers of Iranian oil and a retreat from the U.S. policy of supporting Taiwan’s independence.
Here are some of the key areas of tension between the world’s largest economies.
China’s trade practices
China’s efforts to build up domestic industries have put competitors around the world out of business. That continues to anger American businesses and policymakers.
In a lengthy report put out earlier this week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Rhodium Group documented how China’s industrial policy has only increased in recent years, growing from a focus on building up industries of the future, like car batteries and solar panels, to an “industrial policy of everything,” including raw materials and technologies like A.I. China’s dominance in a variety of industries prevents other countries from diversifying away from the country, or setting up key industries of their own.
It’s unclear whether those issues will be in focus at the president’s summit this week. After pressing China on those issues in Mr. Trump’s first term, the administration appears resolved that the country will not change.
