Trump, Xi, and a New Balance of Power

U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to great fanfare but left with little to show for it. What does the Trump-Xi summit reveal about the balance of power between the world’s two biggest economies? Rana Mitter, a top historian of China, joins FP Live to discuss where the world’s most important relationship is headed. Plus, Ravi shares his read on why the Iran war may be Trump’s greatest failure. Ravi Agrawal: Iran Could Be Trump’s Greatest Failure James Palmer: The Trump-Xi Summit Was Remarkably Banal Fareed Zakaria: Trump’s China Pragmatism Is Welcome Stephen M. Walt: Chinese Hegemony Might Be Happening James Palmer: China Doesn’t Always Win When the U.S. Loses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to Trump, Xi, and a New Balance of Power online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Trump, Xi, and a New Balance of Power is an episode from FP's The Editor's Roundtable (The E.R.) by Foreign Policy.

This episode is 48:20 long.

This episode was published on May 19, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from FP's The Editor's Roundtable (The E.R.) when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.