Taking Stock: Trump and Xi face the trade test

Vishala Sri-Pathma (0:06)

Hello, I'm Vishala Sri Patna. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service, where we're taking stock on the week that President Trump and President Xi cozied up on the red carpet.

SPEAKER_2 (0:17)

During this visit, we will also discuss pressing issues concerning security, technology and super intelligence, SI. The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come. If we focus on our common interests, I'm confident there is much we can achieve.

Vishala Sri-Pathma (0:40)

Well, that was President Trump. He does like to talk up his guests there. A lot of substance to what he was saying as well, though. We're looking back at day two of President Xi's state visit to the US and asking whether all the usual pomp and pageantry has achieved what it's supposed to. Well, our guests this week are Dr. Stephanie Hare, a Chicago native and now AI author and broadcaster in London and Professor Henry Wang. He served as a counselor for the State Council of China and founded the Center for China and Globalization. Welcome to you both. Stephanie, it's still pretty clear from all the photos and all the video that Trump still really wants to project this image of a budding romance with President Xi.

Stephanie Hare (1:21)

Yeah, it's not very clear what Trump has received in exchange for all of the gestures that he's done over the past two days. The most we can sort of look at is the continuation of constructive strategic stability and two new pandas.

Vishala Sri-Pathma (1:35)

Yes, I know those pandas look quite cute though. Those photos look incredibly adorable.

And Henry, Xi did seem a little chirpier on this trip, but he'll be paying just as much attention to the fine print as the photo opportunities.

Henry Wang (1:50)

Yes, I think this visit is historic, is very significant because I think after cooling down for eight, nine years of China-U.S. relation, this gives another fresh start because this top-down approach is really sending the symbolic messages that, okay, from now on, the people-to-people exchange, bureaucratic changes, business changes are okay. If a president are shaking hands, smiling, have banquets, have all those welcome ceremony, you know, what about the rest of us? We can all engage in that. So I think just for that, that is very successful and very meaningful.

Vishala Sri-Pathma (2:27)

Yes, if we're besties, the rest of you can hang out with each other as well, that kind of vibe. Well, we're going to get into the substance behind all the smiles and the finer details of the talks and of course, that softer side of diplomacy on this edition of Taking Stock From Business Daily.

Well, as we were saying, it was a usual affair when it comes to state visits, red carpets, tours, press conferences, and this grand state dinner in the evening. When the BBC entered the dining hall for the dinner, our reporter said that the SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, very rich man, the richest man in the world, was standing over a table and appeared to be telling an entertaining story that had two others nearby barreled over with laughter. He must be a very funny man. Stephanie, a lot of these tech bosses were in attendance at the dinner.

Stephanie Hare (3:17)

Well, I mean, we have to remember that Elon Musk has a substantial part of his business in China, as indeed do many of the tech CEOs who were attending the dinner. So this is business for them.

Vishala Sri-Pathma (3:28)

Yes, and it's interesting because when we had the inauguration of President Trump the second time round, we had all those tech bosses on stage, didn't we? And that was quite a scene, quite a bold move by him at the time. And now we have all these AI bosses that are coming on to that territory as well.

Stephanie Hare (3:45)

Yes, and what's interesting is the last time that Xi Jinping visited the United States back in 2015, he brought a delegation of his own CEOs. But this time, no CEOs from China travel to the United States.

Vishala Sri-Pathma (3:57)

Why is that?

Stephanie Hare (3:59)

Good question. I think at the moment, China's goal out of all of this is managed stabilization. The countries actually have really serious disagreements on a number of things. But at the moment, they can't really find their way out of it. And we'll go into that, I'm sure, in this program. We're also waiting for Trump to get through the US midterms on the 3rd of November so that China can see who they're really dealing with. They need to see what the composition of the US Congress is going to be and how much power Trump really will have to negotiate.