U.S. President Donald Trump met with China's President Xi Jinping last week. What did they discuss?

U.S. President Donald Trump has had a busy few weeks. 

A peace deal in the Middle East, a spate of trade deals in Asia, dozens of meetings with world leaders.

Of particular interest to foreign policy hawks was President Trump’s recent interactions with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The United States and China have a long, complex history. Trade between the two nations, kickstarted in the days of President Richard Nixon has been at times stifled, stilted, flourishing, open, and tenuous.

The diplomatic relationship between the two nations has undergone a similar range of transformations and reinvention.

But since 2020 in particular, things between the U.S. and China have been rather tense. The strained nature of the relationship has troubled business leaders and foreign policy experts deeply.

“What I mean when I say that the US and China are on the brink of war is that it appears that they are close to having a sanctions war and/or military war that neither side wants but many believe will probably happen because a) each side is very close to the other’s red lines, b) each side is using brinksmanship to push the other at the risk of crossing each other’s red lines, and c) politics will probably cause more aggressive brinksmanship over the next 18 months,” warned billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio on April 26, 2023. “I want to emphasize that by saying that they are on the brink, I don’t mean to say that they will necessarily go over the brink. I mean to say that they are very close to crossing red lines that, if crossed, will irrevocably push them over the brink into some type of war that damages these two countries and causes damage to the world order in severe and irrevocable ways — like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did for Russia and the world, just much bigger.”

“As for the two sides not being able to talk with each other, what I mean is that discussions about big, important things have become exchanges of accusations that worsen relations rather than help them, so it is worse to have the discussions than to avoid them,” Dalio mused at the time.

Luckily for the world at large, Dalio’s short-term concerns turned out to be unfounded: The U.S. and China have managed to limp along without any major flare ups to this very day.

But sooner or later, the United States — China relationship is due for a major reset.

Enter U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Sunday, President Trump sat down with 60-Minutes to discuss a range of topics, including the future of the U.S.-China trade relationship.

“Well, first of all, we get along great, and we always really have,” President Trump told host Norah O’Donnell about his relationship with Xi Jinping. We had the COVID moment, which was not — attractive as far as I was concerned. I wasn’t so happy. But outside of that, we have always had a great relationship. He’s a powerful man. He’s a strong man, a very powerful leader.”

“And — we’ve always — had the best of relationships, probably the best of — I could — I think I could speak for him, just about as good as it gets from his standpoint and from my standpoint,” Trump bragged. “And having that is important because of the power of the two countries.”

“What did you get out of this deal that you wanted?” O’Donnell prompted.

“Well, I got sort of everything that we wanted,” replied President Trump. “We got — no rare earth threat. That’s gone, completely gone. We have tremendous amounts of — dollars pouring in — ’cause we have — very big tariffs, almost 50%. We never had anything in terms of tariffs, although I put tariffs on China, but Biden let it lapsed by the — by the fact that he gave exemptions on almost everything, which was just ridiculous.”

“But — we have — billions and billions of dollars coming in, and we have a very good relationship,” added Trump. “I mean, we have — a great relationship with a powerful country. And I’ve always felt if we can make deals that are good, it’s better to get along with China than not, if you can’t make the right kind of a deal than not, because, you know, China, along with many other countries — they’re not alone in this — they’ve ripped us off from day one.”

“They’ve taken trillions of dollars out of our country,” Trump went on. “And now they’re — it’s the opposite. I mean, we’re doing very well with China, and hopefully they’re gonna do very well with us. But I do think it’s important that China and the U.S. get along, and we get along very well at the top.”

“Our own intelligence agencies say the Chinese have infiltrated parts of the American power grid and our water systems. They steal American intellectual property and Americans’ personal information. They bought American farmland. How big of a threat is China?” O’Donnell asked Mr. Trump.

“It’s like everybody else,” rejoined Trump. “We’re a threat to them too. Many of the things that you say, we do to them. Look, this is a very competitive world, especially when it comes to China and the U.S. And — we’re always watching them, and they’re always watching us. In the meantime, I think we get along very well, and I think it’s — I think we can be bigger, better, and stronger by working with them as opposed to just — knocking them out of the economy.”

“They can produce things that we don’t want to produce because it’s not really worth our while — making — undergarments, makin’ this — you know, certain things,” Trump said. “We don’t want to do that, and we can buy them inexpensively from other places in the world while we can lead the world in AI, and chips, and lots of other things.”

“Within — two years from now, we’ll have 40% or 50% of the chip market,” President Trump predicted. “What’s happening here, the biggest companies are leaving Taiwan. They’re coming into the United States because of tariffs.”

“One potential flash point with China, probably the potential flash point with China in the coming years, is over the issue of Taiwan,” O’Donnell asked Trump. “The Chinese military is encroaching on Taiwan’s sea lanes, its airspace, its cyberspace. I know you have said that Xi Jinping wouldn’t dare move militarily on Taiwan while you’re in office. But what if he does? Would you order U.S. forces to defend Taiwan?”

“You’ll find out if it happens,” Trump told her cagily. “And he understands the answer to that.”

“Why not say it?” asked O’Donnell.

“This never even came up yesterday, as a subject,” Trump said. “He never brought it up. People were a little surprised at that. He never brought it up, because he understands it, and he understands it very well. Taiwan is a very interesting case. It’s 69 miles away from China. We’re 9,500 miles away. But that doesn’t matter. He understands — what will happen. He and I have spoken about it. But it was never even brought up during a two and a ha — or two-and-a-half-hour meeting we had yesterday.”

If President Trump is right, the Chinese Communist Party’s designs on Taiwan have been placed on the back-burner — for now.

Hopefully, it stays that way.

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)