U.S. President Donald Trump rewrote Washington’s rules for dealing with China in his first presidency, embracing confrontation, launching a trade war and upending decades of policy. In his second term, China hawks in Washington fear that Trump is going soft.
As Trump pursues a trade pact with the U.S.’s biggest economic and strategic rival, advocates of a tougher China policy fear they’re being sidelined inside the administration as the tech industry’s influence grows — alongside the president’s appetite for what he’s called "a big deal.”
That concern has grown more urgent as Trump looks toward a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that’s expected in the coming weeks. In the leadup, China has made a series of demands that would upend decades of U.S. policy, including looser curbs on investment in exchange for more inflows, and eroding U.S. support for Taiwan.
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