Stephen Roach: Xi May Be Using Trump Summits to Buy Time

Stephen Roach, a prominent economist and senior fellow at Yale University, argues that China should exercise extreme caution in its dealings with Donald Trump, characterizing the former president as a transactional leader prone to reneging on international commitments. While Beijing may seek stability to bolster its struggling economy, any forthcoming agreements on trade or technology are likely to be superficial "lousy deals" that prioritize political optics over substantive resolution. U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors are failing to contain China, instead incentivizing indigenous innovation through firms like Huawei and deep-seek architectures. Furthermore, the prospect of a trilateral summit between Trump, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin at APEC signals a disturbing shift toward authoritarian alignment that undermines traditional democratic alliances and ignores the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. As the U.S. approaches the 2027 political cycle, domestic election challenges and persistent geopolitical conflicts threaten to further destabilize global markets and international relations.