U.S. President Donald Trump may have grabbed the headlines during last week’s Asia tour, but deft diplomacy made his Chinese rival, Xi Jinping, the star of the show.
The leaders found common ground on some of their most contentious issues when they met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea. China will suspend certain controls on rare-earth exports and restart purchases of American farm goods. In return, the U.S. will freeze parts of its tariff program and halve fentanyl-related duties. But this is temporary — some of the measures are only meant to last one year.
Then, Trump left — but Xi stayed on, using the forum to press ahead with China’s ambition to become the region’s most significant power.
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