President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before his departure from Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing, China, on May 15, 2026. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
On May 14, during Donald Trump’s visit to China, Xi Jinping, in his opening remarks at the summit in Beijing, said: “The world has reached a new crossroads. Whether China and the U.S. can overcome the ‘Thucydides Trap’ is a question of history, a question of the world, and a question of the people.”
Dr. Frank Tian Xie is a nonresident senior fellow at the Consilium Institute and a John M. Olin Palmetto Chair Professor in business at the University of South Carolina Aiken.
