In my opinion, the upcoming summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could not be happening at a more important moment.
The world is unstable.
Ukraine continues grinding through a bloody war of attrition. Iran remains the world’s leading exporter of chaos and terrorism while trying desperately to preserve its crumbling influence structure. Global shipping lanes remain vulnerable. Inflation has cooled from its worst levels, but Americans still feel the squeeze every single day they buy groceries, gasoline, or try to finance a home.
And floating over all of it is China.
Massive. Ambitious. Increasingly aggressive. Economically strained in some areas, technologically dangerous in others, and still trying to figure out whether it wants to become a responsible global power or simply the wealthiest authoritarian regime in human history.
That’s why this meeting matters.
Because of all the media caricatures of Trump as impulsive or chaotic, one thing he consistently understands better than most world leaders is leverage.
And right now, America still possesses enormous leverage over China if we are wise enough to use it.
So if I’m President Trump walking into that room, I have three priorities.
Not ten.
Not 30.
Three.
And if progress is made on these three fronts, the entire geopolitical landscape shifts.
3. Keep China Out of the Iranian and Ukrainian Conflicts
This is the immediate concern.
China has spent years playing both sides of global instability—publicly calling for “peace” while economically benefiting from nations actively destabilizing the world order.
Beijing buys heavily discounted Russian energy while Moscow wages war in Ukraine. It continues maintaining deep economic ties with Iran while the mullahs fund terror proxies, threaten shipping lanes, and destabilize the Middle East.
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That balancing act cannot continue indefinitely.
And frankly, China has more to lose from global instability than most people realize.
Its economy is deeply dependent on international trade, stable shipping lanes, imported energy, and predictable markets. Roughly half of China’s imported energy still moves through Middle Eastern corridors vulnerable to disruption. Every missile launched near the Strait of Hormuz threatens Chinese economic interests as much as Western ones.
Trump needs to force clarity.
No more pretending Beijing is a neutral observer while indirectly financing instability through energy purchases and strategic cover.
If China wants access to Western markets, Western technology, and continued global integration, then it cannot continue quietly underwriting regimes actively threatening global order.
That doesn’t mean China suddenly becomes America’s ally.
It means China starts behaving more like a rational stakeholder and less like a geopolitical arsonist standing safely across the street from the fire.
2. Overwhelm Xi on Technology and AI
This is where Trump has a real opportunity to reset the psychological balance.
Because China’s leadership increasingly believes technological dominance is inevitable. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing, surveillance systems, chip production—Beijing views these not merely as industries, but as instruments of national power.
And to be fair, they’ve invested aggressively.
But here’s the reality Xi also understands: America still leads.
Not just in innovation itself, but in the ecosystem that produces innovation—capital markets, entrepreneurial culture, private-sector competition, university research, infrastructure, software dominance, and now increasingly the AI sector itself.
The partnership between Trump and Elon Musk alone changes the entire conversation. Love Musk or hate him, China certainly respects him. They understand technological power instinctively.
Trump needs to walk into this summit not defensive about America’s position, but unapologetically confident in it.
Because the AI race is not merely about convenience apps or chatbots.
It’s about military capability. Economic dominance. Information warfare. Energy optimization. Industrial production. Medical breakthroughs. Cybersecurity.
The nation that leads AI likely shapes the next hundred years.
Xi knows that.
Trump should make sure he also understands something else: if China attempts to cheat, steal, manipulate, infiltrate, or militarize this race aggressively against American interests, the United States still possesses economic and technological pressure points capable of severely limiting Beijing’s ambitions.
That conversation needs to happen directly.
Not politely.
Directly.
1. Cut an Energy Deal That Changes the World
This is the big one.
And frankly, I think it’s the most important geopolitical opportunity sitting on the table right now.
China desperately needs stable energy supplies. Its manufacturing economy depends on it. Its political stability depends on it. Its future growth depends on it.
Right now, large portions of that energy come from Russia and Iran.
That benefits Moscow.
That benefits Tehran.
That weakens global stability.
President Trump has the opportunity to change that equation dramatically.
America is now one of the world’s dominant energy producers. We possess enormous oil and liquid natural gas capacity, and under pro-production policies we can expand it even further.
So why not make China a deal?
Replace Russian and Iranian supply with American energy—even if it means offering highly competitive pricing.
Think through what that does strategically.
Suddenly:
- Russia loses leverage over Beijing.
- Iran loses one of its most important customers.
- American energy exports surge.
- U.S. economic influence deepens.
- China becomes economically tied to American stability rather than Middle Eastern chaos.
That doesn’t magically transform China into a Jeffersonian democracy overnight.
But it does begin peeling Beijing away from the emerging authoritarian bloc increasingly centered around Russia, Iran, and anti-Western alignment.
And unlike endless military interventions, this strategy uses markets, energy, and leverage instead of American blood.
That’s smart power.
It also happens to make the world safer.
Because wars often continue not merely because armies want to fight, but because economies keep funding them.
Pressure the funding streams and suddenly peace becomes much more attractive.
This is why the Xi summit matters so much.
Handled poorly, it’s another photo-op swallowed by headlines.
Handled correctly, it could reshape the next decade of global power dynamics.
Keep China from escalating global conflicts.
Establish American dominance in the AI race.
Replace adversarial energy dependence with American supply.
If Trump pulls even two-thirds of that off, the impact is enormous.
The American economy strengthens.
The world becomes more stable.
Russia and Iran weaken strategically.
And China slowly begins realizing its prosperity may depend more on cooperation with the United States than alignment with the world’s most destabilizing regimes.
That’s the real play here.
Not endless war.
Not emotional diplomacy.
Leverage.
And for all the criticism thrown at Donald Trump over the years, leverage has always been the language he understands best.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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