Trump Meets Xi in Washington as Domestic Woes Grow

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

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This is Bloomberg Businessweek Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead, with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy. Plus, global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Businessweek Daily podcast with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. On Bloomberg Radio.

Carol Massar (0:32)

We want to check in with our guest who is joining us right here in studio. Heidi Crebo-Rediker, she is Senior Fellow for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations. She's been following the high-level meetings here going in and around New York City. Good to have you here. We're waiting for some leaders, some are early, some are late. That's the way it goes. There's traffic in New York City.

We are talking to lots of leaders and I think always top of mind, certainly considering our domestic political climate and then our relationship with the world, meaning the United States. I think about what it means and how global leaders are looking at the US right now.

Heidi Crebo-Rediker (1:10)

How do you see it?

I think this is a very important gathering in New York and I do think we've seen some fireworks already. The conversations when I speak with governments outside of the US, particularly Europe, Asia, is really trying to figure out where we're going with the current Trump policy vis-a-vis allies. And then the big US-China question about what is this upcoming summit between Trump and Xi going to deliver? And really because we've seen this administration pivot more towards the Western Hemisphere, but also away from allies and partners. Where do we get trust back? And so I think that the trust is really the big question on a lot of leaders' minds.

Tim Stenovec (1:59)

I want to get to the state visit from Xi Jinping, by Xi Jinping in a minute, but on the allies' question. I had an interesting conversation recently with a Canadian businessperson who was talking to me about the political environment in Canada and how he views US-Canada relations. And he said something that struck me, and it was that he doesn't think that the relationship between the US and Canada will be repaired even by the next president, no matter who it is.

Heidi Crebo-Rediker (2:28)

I talk to a lot of Canadians about this. I come from New England. Anyone who lives on the border with Canada knows how tightly interrelated not only the economies are, but also families, and the ties are very deep.

And yeah, I'm hearing the same message. And one of the challenges is that Canada actually has and has delivered the kind of security chain resilience that we need right now, whether it is in energy, for our energy security, critical minerals. We have $150 billion bilateral trading relationship with Canada. And now they are so concerned about our approach towards Canada and the rhetoric about the 51st state that they are pivoting and hedging away from the United States. So you have Mark Carney, a very climate-focused prime minister who is all about building pipelines to try and make sure that they have diversification plans. So that, I think, is very unfortunate for the US because that kind of infrastructure is permanent.

Carol Massar (3:34)

So we've always talked, Heidi, for such a long time about how the US and China need one another. Is that still the case? I mean, China has been trying desperately to continue to develop its domestic market. It's not there. We buy a lot of stuff. So I am just curious about that symbiotic relationship. Does it still exist?

Heidi Crebo-Rediker (3:54)

So there's certainly, I mean, it definitely still exists. The question, I think, more is for China, because they have this very specific plan for a dual circulation economy where they depend less and less and less on the rest of the world. But their economic future is dependent on being able to export more and more and more to the rest of the world. And it's really, that's the foundation of many of the questions, that not just the US and Europe and Japan, but also developing countries, because they're getting the sort of excess capacity flooding into markets right now. And so it's really, is that sustainable for the rest of the world with China producing at the scale it is?

Tim Stenovec (4:35)

At the same time, there's a lot of stuff that China can do that the rest of the world can't do.

Heidi Crebo-Rediker (4:39)

Absolutely.

Tim Stenovec (4:40)

And I don't see that changing with, no matter which countries look inward. That's the way it's been. And I think, at least in our lifetimes, that's not going to change.