Global power, rivalry, and A.I.; a preview of the U.S./China summit

The upcoming summit between President Trump and President Xi Jinping highlights the precarious state of US-China relations, defined by intense economic and technological rivalry. China’s strategic use of rare earth mineral controls has successfully pressured American policy, signaling a shift in global manufacturing dominance. While the US maintains a lead in AI compute capacity, China utilizes model distillation to narrow the gap, viewing AI as a pivotal tool for national rejuvenation. Beyond economic competition, China has pre-positioned destructive malware within American critical infrastructure, creating significant security vulnerabilities. Taiwan remains a flashpoint; its dominance in semiconductor manufacturing makes it essential to the global economy, yet its status as a potential site of conflict threatens catastrophic economic consequences. Rush Doshi, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former National Security Council official, notes that the summit serves more as a display of pageantry than a venue for substantive resolution.