Opinion

Trump-Xi’s China summit is a defining test for America in the new Cold War

The new Cold War with China is being fought with chips, data and AI

By Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (ret.) Fox News

Published May 14, 2026 5:00am EDT

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Trump's China visit: High-stakes summit on trade, Iran and Taiwan

Bill Hemmer reports live from Beijing with Sandra Smith and Aishah Hasnie, joined by Dennis Wilder, to discuss President Donald Trump's two-day high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding tariffs, AI and trade. [10:00 AM]

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When Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly declared that mastery of artificial intelligence is "the front line and main battlefield of international competition," he was not indulging in political theater. He was announcing the strategic framework now guiding Beijing’s economic, military and technological ambitions.

After 24 years in uniform and another two-plus decades studying America’s adversaries — from the Pentagon to a think tank to writing 14 books on geopolitical threats — I have learned to take authoritarian leaders seriously when they openly declare their intentions.

As President Donald Trump arrives in Beijing on May 14 for his first visit to China since 2017, the central question is whether Washington fully understands the scale of the contest now unfolding.

A summit unlike any other

TRUMP HEADS TO BEIJING FOR HIGH-STAKES XI TALKS AS TAIWAN TENSIONS, TRADE DISPUTES TEST US STRENGTH

This is not a routine summit centered on trade disputes or diplomatic optics.

President Donald Trump was greeted by a formal state welcome when he touched down in Beijing on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, evening ahead of high-stakes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

According to Reuters, senior officials expect discussions involving Iran, Taiwan, semiconductors, rare earth minerals, tariffs, computing infrastructure and military stability.

No Trump-Xi meeting in recent memory has carried this level of geopolitical risk.

TRUMP’S TARIFF WAR WITH BEIJING IS PART OF A MULTI-PRONG STRATEGY TO SECURE AMERICA FROM A MUCH BROADER THREAT

The Middle East remains in open conflict following the Iran war. That conflict has forced the Strait of Hormuz closure, triggering the most severe global energy shock in years and giving Beijing unusual leverage over economies desperate for stable supply chains. Taiwan sits under mounting Chinese military pressure. Meanwhile, Washington and Beijing are accelerating toward what increasingly resembles a new Cold War........

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