Tag: United States Politics and Government

Biden and Xi Make Nice Despite U.S.-China Tensions

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In Washington, President Xi Jinping of China is largely considered a mysterious autocrat who has long harbored a fatalistic view of his country’s relationship with the United States. But for a brief moment on Wednesday, at a century-old gilded mansion in the hills of Northern California, President Biden treated Mr. Xi like just another car guy. “It’s a beautiful vehicle!” Mr. Biden said as he walked the Chinese leader to his car, an armored, 18-foot Hongqi sedan, after a long day of diplomatic wrangling, according to a video published by…

China’s Xi Jinping Draws Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Other U.S. CEOs to Gala in San Francisco

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The streets outside the San Francisco hotel where the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, addressed a crowd of American business executives Wednesday night were chaotic, echoing with police sirens and the chants of protesters. A woman had strapped herself to a pole 25 feet in the air in front of the hotel, yelling “Free Tibet!” as a cold rain fell. But inside the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency, the atmosphere was warm and friendly. More than 300 executives and officials listened attentively as Mr. Xi — the leader of a country…

Biden-Xi Talks Lead to Little but a Promise to Keep Talking

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President Biden said on Wednesday that four hours of discussion with President Xi Jinping of China had brought about two significant agreements, on curbing fentanyl production and on military-to-military communications. But both American and Chinese accounts of their first encounter in a year indicated little progress on the issues that have pushed the two nations to the edge of conflict. Emerging from the talks, and a brief walk with Mr. Xi on the grounds of a mansion south of San Francisco, Mr. Biden told reporters that the conversation had been…

U.S. to Press China to Stop Flow of Fentanyl

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President Biden will press the Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday to crack down on the Chinese firms that are helping to produce fentanyl, a potent drug that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. An agreement to curb China’s illicit exports of fentanyl — and particularly the chemicals that can be combined to make the drug — could be one of the more significant achievements for the United States out of Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi’s meeting, which is taking place as leaders from Pacific nations gather for an…

Biden’s Goal in Meeting With Xi: Avoid a Spiraling Conflict

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When President Biden meets President Xi Jinping of China at a lush estate on the edge of Silicon Valley on Wednesday, his primary goal will be simple: find a way to avoid an increasingly bitter competition with China from tipping into conflict. For two leaders who have agreed on very little as their nations have spiraled into their worst relationship in four decades, there have been hints of how they will try to nudge toward the appearance of agreement. A senior administration official said they are expected to reach the…

U.S. Manages Expectations of a Breakthrough Before Biden and Xi Meet

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Of all the issues dividing the United States and China — spy balloons, Beijing’s rapid nuclear buildup and Washington’s crackdown on advanced computer chips — the White House has been engaged in one more topic of debate: what China’s leader will see when he looks out of his window during his visit to California this week. When President Biden meets with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, China’s diplomats want to know what Mr. Xi will be looking at, and to make sure the scenery does not include protesters. Nearly every…

Biden and Xi to Seek to Stabilize Relations in California Meeting

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President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China plan to meet in California on Wednesday, for a discussion that Mr. Biden’s advisers say is meant to stabilize relations even as it features a host of topics on which the two fiercely competitive countries disagree. The Biden administration, which formally announced the meeting on Friday morning, said the two leaders would have the highly choreographed discussion as they attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. In a call with reporters on Thursday, two senior advisers to Mr. Biden said…

A New Law Supercharged Electric Car Manufacturing, but Not Sales

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President Biden’s signature climate law has stimulated a surge of investment in electric vehicle production across the country, including tens of billions of dollars on battery plants across the South and new assembly lines near the Great Lakes. Based on early evidence, it is succeeding at a goal that economists have long considered difficult and costly: using the power of government to rapidly grow a new industry. That growth could prove crucial for the other side of the electric vehicle equation: enticing more consumers to buy them. That’s because Mr.…

U.S. Retailers Say an Old Trade Law Puts Them at a Disadvantage

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American retailers have faced an existential crisis since e-commerce disrupted the industry’s traditional business models. But their latest threat, a group of retailers and policymakers say, is coming from a nearly century-old trade rule that has given their e-commerce rivals — many of them founded in China — an unfair advantage. The rule, known as de minimis, allows companies to ship packages worth less than $800 into the United States without paying duties and fees that Customs and Border Protection enforces. Nearly three million de minimis shipments enter the United…

DeSantis Says He Will ‘Reorient’ U.S. Foreign Policy to Counter China

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Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, working to maintain his second-place status in the Republican primary, said Friday that as president he would “reorient” U.S. foreign policy to give clear priority to China while downplaying national security risks posed by conflicts such as Russia’s war on Ukraine. In a speech laying out his approach, Mr. DeSantis cast Beijing as a greater threat to the United States than the Axis powers and the Soviet Union ever were because of its economic might. As commander in chief, he said, he would “prioritize the…