Republicans are targeting Chinaโs efforts to sidestep U.S. tariffs through foreign production, with new legislation introduced Thursday by House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas.
The Axing Nonmarket Tariff Evasion (ANTE) Act aims to stop subsidized and state-owned entities from setting up production in other countries to avoid tariffs.
"For far too long, adversaries like China have engaged in unfair trade practices, cheated the American economy, and cost the U.S. millions of jobs," Arrington said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
On April 2, which the White House dubbed "Liberation Day," President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs with the intention of ending trade imbalances. Some of the harshest of the tariffs were imposed on China, which was initially hit with a 145% tariff that was later lowered to 30%.ย
While tariffs seem to be discouraging Chinese manufacturers from exporting to the U.S., as evidenced by a recent Commerce Department report showing import levels at their lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic, imports have not stopped entirely.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has found ways to evade the tariffs, such as setting up production in third-party countries or by shipping goods to another country and re-labeling them before sending them to the U.S. By labeling the goods as originating from another country, manufacturers dodge the high tariffs on China and instead get hit with much lower tariffs that are imposed on other nations. This is something that Arrington hopes to stop with his legislation.
"The ANTE Act will stop highly-subsidized, state-owned businesses from using third countries as backdoors to evade President Trumpโs tariffs and help ensure a level playing field for American producers and manufacturers," Arrington told Fox News Digital.
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who is introducing companion legislation in the Senate, is also confident the bill will stop the CCP from falsifying the origins of imports.
"Communist China shouldnโt be able to dodge U.S. tariffs by slapping a โMade in Mexicoโ label on their products," Banks said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "My bill closes loopholes and stops the CCP from cheating American workers and manufacturers."ย
The phenomenon of "place-of-origin washing" is not limited to large businesses. Chinese social media platforms are filled with ads offering services to help sellers avoid tariffs, the Financial Times reported. The outlet also noted that South Koreaโs customs agency has seen an uptick in cases involving sellers using their country to avoid U.S. tariffs.
Under U.S. law, goods must undergo "substantial transformation" in a country to qualify as originating from there. The transformation must significantly add to the value of the good, according to the International Trade Administrationโs (ITA) website.ย
As an example, the ITA writes that if ingredients are taken from several countries and turned into baked goods, the country of origin can be listed as where the items were baked, as this constitutes a "substantial transformation." However, if produce from multiple countries is frozen and mixed in another nation, then the origin of each ingredient must be listed.
Former Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to China Wednesday, with President Donald Trump remarking on the timing of the ceremony as trade talks between the two nations are set to kick off.ย
"We're swearing in our next ambassador to the People's Republic of China. What timing, David. What timing? Only you could have picked this timing," Trump quipped as Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared to swear Perdue in.ย
The Senate confirmed Perdue April 29 in a 67โ29 vote. His swearing-in ceremony comes as China and the U.S. are set to begin trade talks following Trump's tariffs on the nation in recent months.ย
"Our new ambassador brings to this position a lifetime of experience at the highest levels of business and politics," Trump said. "And he is at the highest level. Over four decades in business, he rose to lead several major American corporations, including as the president and CEO of the footwear giant Reebok, where he did very well and did a great job. And later the CEO of Dollar General. Likewise, he did a great job. David also lived and worked in Singapore and Hong Kong for several years, developing a wealth of experience negotiating and doing tremendous business deals for lots of different leaders that he worked with."ย
Trump told Perdue to "say hello to President Xi when you're over there."
The Trump administration has leveled tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods as the president looks to bring parity to the nation's chronic trade deficit with foreign countries. Trump paused his April 2 reciprocal tariff plan on dozens of nations in April as countries called on the administration to make trade deals, but he upped the ante on China as the country rebuked Trump's trade policies with tariffs of its own, including 125% duty taxes on U.S. goods.ย
Treasury Secretaryย Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are scheduled to meet with their Chinese counterparts over the weekend in Switzerland to discuss economic matters, Bessent said on Fox News Tuesday.ย
"We have shared interests," Bessent said. "This isn't sustainable, as I said before, especially on the Chinese side โ and, you know, 145%, 125% is the equivalent of an embargo. We don't want to decouple โ what we want is fair trade."ย
China's Ministry of Commerce said Friday that officials were "evaluating" an offer from the Trump administration to hold trade talks on the 145% U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
"The U.S. has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China," the statement said, according to Reuters.ย
"Attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work," the statement added.ย
Trump and the administration have previously said they were willing to hold trade negotiations with China, including the president saying April 8, "We are waiting for their call. It will happen."
Trump continued during the ceremony that Perdue would help lead the charge to end the flow of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl into the U.S., an issue Trump has railed against while leveraging tariffs on China to end the illegal drugs from entering the U.S.ย
"They have to stop fentanyl from coming in," Trump said. "And that'll be a very big part. And I had that understanding with President Xi before I left, last time. And we had a deal, and he would have honored the deal. But when Biden came in, of course, nothing ever happened with him. He didn't know what the hell he was doing. But that would have saved a lot of lives, that election cost us a lot of lives and a lot of heartache. The fact that we went through four years of misery, and you look at what's coming through the border and the job of getting murderers out of our country, so many, so many bad things happened."ย
ย Fox News Digital's Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.ย
President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping "many times" but did not say if any of those communications took place since he imposed stiff tariffs on the communist nation.ย
Asked for details about those communications, Trump responded by saying "Iโll let you know at the appropriate time."
Trumpโs latest comments, which took place before he boarded Marine One to travel to Rome for Pope Francisโ funeral, come after days of back and forth between the countries over whether they are in direct talks about reducing the tariffs โ and whether Trump and Xi have spoken directly to one another since the tariffs were rolled out.ย
Trumpโs tariffs on China, which have rattled global stock markets and upended supply chains, have ballooned to 145% while China has responded by slapping a 125% tariff on its U.S. imports.ย
In a newly published TIME article published Friday morning, Trump is quoted as saying that Xi personally called him to discuss trade matters.ย
"He's called. And I don't think that's a sign of weakness on his behalf," Trump is quoted as saying, without providing specifics about the timing or content of the call.
When asked what Xi said, Trump sidestepped his response by saying "We all want to make deals. But I am this giant store. It's a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go shopping there. And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and I'll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay."
"You have to understand, I'm dealing with all the companies, very friendly countries," he said, when asked about trade adviser Peter Navarro, saying 90 deals in 90 days is possible.ย "We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I've made all the deals."
The TIME interview took place on Tuesday, with Trump saying publicly on the same day that things were going "fine with China" and thatย the final tariff rate on Chinese exportsย would come down "substantially" from the current 145%.
Trump also told reporters earlier in the week that "everythingโs active" when asked if he was engaging with China, althoughย his treasury secretaryย had said there were no formal negotiations.
Those comments led to Beijing on Thursday denying any suggestion that it was in active negotiations with the administration.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for Chinaโs Foreign Ministry, said during a daily briefing on Thursday that, "For all I know, China and the U.S. are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs, still less reaching a deal."
"Chinaโs position is consistent, and we are open to consultations and dialogues, but any form of consultations and negotiations must be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and in an equal manner," Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong said.
Asked Thursday about China denying there were any conversations ongoing with the United States, Trump said, "We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we've been meeting with China," before adding, "it doesnโt matter who they is."
Trump said Tuesday that the hefty tax rate of 145% Americans must currently pay for Chinese imports will likely be reduced significantly. ย
While Trump said the rate "wonโt be zero," he expressed optimism over a potential trade deal with China.ย
"One hundred forty-five percent is very high, and it wonโt be that high," Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office. "It will come down substantially, but it wonโt be zero."ย
Fox Newsโ Greg Norman, Bonny Chu and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: State Armor Action is releasing a new tool that will allow people to track anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) legislation across the country.
"China's communist government targets American state governments in order to undermine our homeland security. Protecting the United States from the Chinese Communist Party requires working on the front lines in statehouses across the country to combat CCP aggression and oppression," Michael Lucci, the founder and CEO of State Armor Action, told Fox News Digital.
The comment comes as Lucciโs organization, which aims to help U.S. states confront emerging global security threats, releases a new tracker that allows users to see all the legislation regarding China currently making its way through state legislatures.
According to the tracker, their organization is currently keeping tabs on 461 bills across the country aimed at addressing the threat posed by the CCP.
The tracker also keeps tabs on where those bills stand, with a graphic showing that 11 of the bills have been killed, 43 have been adopted, 25 have passed both chambers, 43 have crossed over from one chamber to another, and 339 have been introduced.
"State Armor Action's legislation tracker will serve as a crucial tool in the fight against Communist China and its nefarious partners," Lucci said. "The tracker will help educate policy leaders and inform the American public about the legislation that will stop the CCP across the country, and it will help spread legislative concepts between states."
The tracker contains graphics that track the party in control of each state government where bills have been introduced or enacted, while also displaying a U.S. map showing which states have the highest concentration of anti-CCP bills.
While the threat posed by China may traditionally be seen as in the sphere of the federal governmentโs control, Alex Gray, deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff of the White House National Security Council, told Fox News Digital that it is critical that states also set themselves up to combat China.
"The Chinese Communist Party has its sights set on the states," Gray said. "Now more than ever, we need state leaders to step up and harden themselves against Communist China. State Armor Actionโs new China legislation tracker will help inform and educate leaders on legislation across the country, allow them to monitor progress, and make it easier to join the fight against the CCPโs encroachment in our homeland. State and local leaders can use the tracker to model their legislation based on other successful counter-CCP bills around the country. I urge all leaders to use this tool and help counter Chinaโs malign influence."
President Donald Trump said Thursday that China has been reaching out "a lot" ever since he nearly tripled U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, and he suggested to reporters that the two nations could reach a deal in as soon as three to four weeks.ย
During a gaggle with reporters after signing executive orders related to deregulating the seafood industry, Trump was asked about his ongoing negotiations with Chinese officials and, in particular, whether he has yet spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the ongoing trade battle.
"They have reached out a number of times," Trump said, referring to high-level Chinese officials. When asked how frequently they've been in touch since last week โ after Trump tripled his Chinese tariff increase from 54% to 145% โ the president responded, "A lot."
His comments come amid media reports that Trump has indicated he is unwilling to reach out to China first amid the ongoing trade war. According to sources close to Trump, U.S. officials have been urging the Chinese to initiate a call between Xi and Trump, but so far they have not. ย ย
When asked if he had spoken to Xi yet, Trump would not confirm one way or the other.
"I've never said whether or not [it's] happened, butย I have a very good relationship with President Xi, and I think it's going to continue. They have reached out a number of times," Trump told reporters.ย
The press then quickly pounced on Trump's response, requesting the president to clarify if he was referring to Xi or other Chinese officials when he said, "They have reached out a number of times."
"I view it very similar," Trump responded. "It would be top levels of China, and if you knew [Xi], you would know that if they reached out, he knew exactly โ he knew everything about it. He runs it very tight, very strong, very smart. And, yeah, we're talking to China."
The president said that while some have urged him to fast-track his negotiations, he believes there is "plenty" of time left to make a deal with China and expects it will eventually come to fruition.
"At a certain point, if we don't make a deal, we'll just set a limit. We'll set a tariff. We'll set some parameters, and we'll say, 'Come in and shop,'" Trump said. "They always have a right not to do it, so they can say, 'Well, we don't want it, so we're not going to shop there, we're not going to shop in the store of America.' We have something that nobody else has, and that's the American consumer."
As President Donald Trump reshapes American foreign policy around hard-nosed deals and national self-interest, a new report warns the UK must rethink its strategy to preserve its "special relationship" โ or risk being sidelined in Washington.
Darren Spinck, a fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, cautions that there will be no "business as usual" under Trump and that the "special relationship" between the U.S. and UK can no longer be taken for granted. To remain a key ally, Spinck argues in a new report, Britain must embrace Trump's "transactional" approach to foreign policy. ย
"Choosing not to retaliate" against Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs may signal a "strategic patience that may facilitate bilateral negotiations," the report states. It outlines steps that Prime Minister Keir Starmer could take to align with the Trump administration and pursue a U.S.-UK free trade deal, including deeper security cooperation and a tougher stance on China.
Trump recently imposed 10% across-the-board tariffs on foreign nations and paused harsher levies he earlier proposed on every nation except China.ย
Another path, the report suggests, could involve the UK seeking accession to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the North American trade bloc, as a way to deepen economic ties with the United States.
The report also urges the UK Labour Party leadership to "reduce commercial dependency on the PRC rather than deepening it," warning that closer economic ties with Beijing could strain U.S.-UK relations under Trump.
Spinck contrasted the Trump administrationโs focus on "bilateralism, economic nationalism, and Indo-Pacific security" with the Starmer governmentโs preference for "multilateral diplomacy, progressive trade policies, and European security commitments."
"This policy gap threatens transatlantic cohesion, weakening their collective ability to act against common adversaries, particularly China," he warned.ย
Divergent policies on China, NATO commitments and Indo-Pacific strategy could erode Five Eyes intelligence sharing, which is key to UK national security.
Spinck called on the British government to strike a deal with the U.S. that addresses the White Houseโs digital privacy concerns โ particularly after the UK ordered Apple to grant security agencies access to encrypted cloud data โ and to launch a mineral mining partnership to bolster critical supply chains.
Whereas the previous conservative UK government deemed China its "greatest state-based threat," the current liberal leadership has "reversed the course of the previous three Conservative Party Governments and has sought to strengthen economic ties with Beijing," according to Spink.ย
He said the UK had recently advanced Beijingโs access to Western capital markets and re-established bilateral frameworks on industrial, trade and energy policy with China.ย
"โโOne must wonder why London appears eager to expand economic ties with China โ a country widely criticized for its human rights record โ while the UKโs development finance institution has been less inclined to support international infrastructure development or mining projects in other regions."
"As the Trump Administration seeks to further accelerate Americaโs decoupling from targeted CCP economic and technology sectors, the US feels that the Labour Governmentโs apparent rapprochement with Beijing, after years of cautious relations following the PRCโs 2020 breach of the SinoโBritish Joint Declaration,ย could unnecessarily complicate the "Special Relationship," Spink wrote.ย
He said that critical issues "requiring transatlantic cooperation," such as a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, are "at risk" if the U.S. and the UK are not aligned on China policy.
The UK must also set aside its disagreements over U.S. domestic policy, according to Spinck, due to the more urgent need for security cooperation.ย
"As the Labour Government works with President Trumpโs Administration, it should realize its views on a wide range of policies, including immigration, climate policy, digital privacy and welfare benefits, are vastly different," he wrote.ย
He said such "fractures" like the UK governmentโs demand for backdoor access to Appleโs encrypted cloud storage "have begun to define the overall relationship between the two allies, impacting the potential for foreign policy alignment."
"Overcoming these cultural differences requires a shift to a more transactional model of foreign policy cooperation. Britain needs to take an active role in re-setting this agenda, pushing questions of domestic ideology to the margins in favor of solid, mutually beneficial measures."
The UK could also signal goodwill by taking a tougher diplomatic stance on Iran. Spinck urged London to help close the "transatlantic divide" on Iran policy, which he said has "disrupted attempts to forge a coherent approach to stopping Iranโs nuclear progress."
While the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed sweeping sanctions, the UK remained a party and declined to trigger snapback sanctions โ even amid reports that Iran had violated the agreement and was enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels.
Spink also urged the UK to join the U.S. in designating Iranโs elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Such moves, he argued, "would also be seen as a victory for the long-established Trump policy on Iran โ one that would cost the UK nothing and would generate much goodwill in Washington, D.C."
Chinese manufacturers are finding little wiggle room to further lower prices for US companies that are trying to mitigate tariffs.
Stringer/VIA REUTERS
US businesses are pressuring Chinese suppliers to cut prices to mitigate Trump's tariffs on China.
Supply chain experts say Chinese manufacturers have smaller margins to give.
After heated back-and-forth retaliations, the US tariffs on China stand at 145% as of April 10.
To avoid steep price hikes for consumers, US businesses are pressuring their Chinese suppliers to lower prices after President Donald Trump imposed massive tariffs.
Those attempts will likely fail, production management companies andsupply chain experts told Business Insider.
"If you already reduced your pricing in the past for your US clients, you probably don't have much space to do it again and again," said Jonathan Chitayat, CEO of Genimex Group, a contract manufacturing company."You can do it for an order or two, but the next time your customer asks you for a price, you are going to work on the reality that you have to be a profitable business and you can't continue losing money."
Genimex Group helps US companies engineer and manage manufacturing for electronics and kitchenware, which often means working with overseas suppliers in Asia. Chitayat said that a large part of the job now is negotiating with factories to mitigate the tariffs. Still, because that possibility is shrinking, many US clients have already raised their retail prices.
"Everyone's already under pressure and has been asked that question before," said Chitayat. "There are no subsidies that we're aware of that the government in China is giving to manufacturers, so they mostly don't or have very, very little margins to give."
Trump has a history of imposing tariffs on China since his first presidency in 2016. The manufacturing hub also became his main target during his "Liberation Day" announcements, during which he said China had a 67% tariff on the US, among several other figures representing other countries' duties on the US that could not be found in past trade documents.
Despite announcing on Wednesday that his tariff policy would be temporarily suspended for 90 days on more than 75 trading partners who did not respond with retaliatory measures, Trump said on Thursday that a 10% blanket tariff on all countries still stands and that tariffs on China total 145%.
Trump wrote on Truth Socialthat these tariffs are "effective immediately" and "based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World's Markets."
China retaliated against the initial US tariffs with an 84%ย counter tariffย and raised the amount to 125% on April 11,ย calling the US a "joke." The Ministry of Finance in China added that, given the price tag, there is no longer any "market acceptance for US goods exported to China."
Tariff burden will fall on consumers
"There has historically been this pressure to who's going to eat the tariff, and I don't think there's much room to move on that now," Willy C. Shih, Professor of Management Practice in Business Administration at Harvard Business School, told Business Insider. "China is already hyper-competitive."
Shih said that if the Chinese Yuan depreciates, that could help absorb some of the tariff shock. However, that would be insufficient to keep costs downfor many products like electrical equipment, which already faced Section 301 tariffs before the most recent "reciprocal" tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
He said many of these products, such as liquid crystal flat panel displays for televisions, were never made in the US in the first place.
"You can distribute parts of the tariff among all the parties in the supply chain, but these numbers are so large now that they're going to have to be passed on to consumers," Shih added.
Some supply chain experts have also told BI that China's internal economic issues have affected its ability to mitigate external shocks, which could harm both countries.
"Chinese manufacturing firms have faced declining margins in part due to falling domestic demand,"Sara Hsu, clinical associate professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee, told BI, "so there is already weakness in this sector from last year."
Andrew Collier, Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government of the Harvard Kennedy School, told BI that due to the collapse of China's property market and the subsequent loss of property revenue for local governments, there's little room for Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to prop up manufacturers.
"Xi faces some domestic pressure from unemployed workers, disgruntled property owners, and small businesses selling goods to the US," said Collier. "The political pressure on Trump in a democracy is likely to be much higher once people realize how bad the economy and markets are."
EXCLUSIVE: Biden administration State Department officials held private talks with Beijing counterparts about the Chinese spy balloon that intercepted U.S. airspace in 2023, and discussed the implications the balloon's publicity would have on the relationship between the U.S. and China, according to Trump administration officials.ย
U.S. officials identified the spy balloon infiltrating U.S. airspace on Jan. 28, 2023, and an Air Force fighter jet shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina Feb. 4, 2023, two days after the Pentagon issued a statement on the matter.ย ย
Biden officials held discussions with Beijing Feb. 1, 2023, about the balloon, and discussed the impact disclosing the balloon to the public could have on the relationship with China, internal State Department documents show, two Trump administration officials told Fox News Digital. ย
An internal State Department readout of the talks between Blinken and a top Chinese diplomat said Blinken stated that if the presence of the balloon were revealed publicly, it could have "profound implications for our relationship" with China, particularly amid efforts to stabilize the bilateral relationship with Beijing, two Trump administration officials familiar with the documents told Fox News Digital.ย
The readout said that the incident could also have complicated Blinkenโs travel plans to China in early February 2023, if not quickly resolved. Blinken ultimately postponed the trip until June 2023.ย
A former Biden administration official told Fox News Digital that the State Department summoned senior Chinese diplomat Zhu Haiquan Feb. 1, 2023, so that the U.S. could notify China to remove the balloon, and issue a warning that the U.S. could take action to eliminate the balloon.ย
"Former Secretary Blinken advocated strongly to tell the American people about Chinaโs rogue balloon, which is exactly what happened," a spokesperson for the former secretary of state said in a Tuesday statement to Fox News Digital. "He has a long history of being tough on China while actually delivering results."
Likewise, another senior State Department official also held private talks on Feb. 1, 2023, with Chinese counterparts. A readout from that discussion says that the official claimed the longer it took to mitigate the issueย would only increase the likelihood that news of the balloon would become public, posing greater challenges managing the situation, the Trump administration officials said.ย
Ultimately, the Pentagon issued a statement Feb. 2, 2023, claiming that the U.S. government had detected a "high-altitude surveillance balloon."ย
While then-White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Biden received a briefing on the balloon on Jan. 31, 2023, she did not provide details regarding why his administration didnโt issue a statement on the matter until Feb. 2, 2023.ย
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, then a U.S. senator from Florida, repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for how it handled disclosing information to the public about the balloon โ and how long it took the administration to shoot it down.ย
Bidenโs failure to address the situation sooner was the "beginning of dereliction of duty," Rubio said during an appearance on CNN with Jake Tapper.ย
"Why didnโt the president go on television?" Rubio told Tapper. "He has the ability to convene the country in cameras and basically explain what weโre dealing with here."ย
On Feb. 4, 2023, an Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter jet from Virginia's Langley Air Force Base shot down the balloon off the coast of South Carolina with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile.ย
At the time, the Pentagon said that while the balloon was not a military or physical threat, its presence in U.S. airspace did violate U.S. sovereignty. The Pentagon also shut down Chinaโs initial claims that the balloon was a weather balloon blown off course and labeled such statements false.ย
"This was a PRC surveillance balloon," a senior defense official told reporters at the time. "This surveillance balloon purposely traversed the United States and Canada, and we are confident it was seeking to monitor sensitive military sites."
The Pentagon also said after shooting down the balloon that similar balloons from China transited continental U.S. airspace in at least three instances during Trumpโs first administration.ย
Additionally, Biden "gave his authorization to take down the Chinese surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to us civilians under the balloon's path," the senior defense official said, noting that there was concern debris could harm civilians.ย
The Pentagon later said in June 2023 that it did not believe that the balloon gathered information as it traveled across the U.S.
Blinken is now a speaker with CAA Speakers, which represents high-profile celebrities.
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.ย
China is building a massive military command center that's 10 times the size of the Pentagon. Intelligence analysts say it's likely designed to protect China's top officials from a nuclear attack.
In her memoir "Careless People," Sarah Wynn-Williams wrote that China's leader, Xi Jinping, was surrounded by a "phalanx of men" during the 2016 APEC summit.
Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images; Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg wanted to talk to Xi Jinping at the 2016 APEC summit in Lima, Peru.
He had a dressing room next to Xi and back-to-back speeches with the Chinese leader.
But Xi swept past with enough people to create a "wall" between them โ and the talk never happened.
Mark Zuckerberg was hoping he could meet China's leader, Xi Jinping, at the sidelines of the APEC summit held in Lima, Peru back in 2016.
But Xi didn't seem interested.
Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive, said she was with Zuckerberg when the botched attempt at a meeting took place. She detailed the incident in her memoir, "Careless People," which was published Tuesday.
In her book, Wynn-Williams wrote that she had tried to engineer a "spontaneous encounter" between Zuckerberg and Xi. She did this by securing a dressing room for Zuckerberg next to Xi's. Per her account, she also arranged for Zuckerberg's keynote speech at the summit to take place before Xi's.
However, the chance encounter Wynn-Williams and Zuckerberg were hoping for did not pan out.
Instead, Wynn-Williams said that Zuckerberg found himself being blocked from Xi's view by the Chinese leader's hefty security detail.
"It's a phalanx of men, in identical gray uniforms, marching in formation past us. Mark stares in disbelief, mouth open. They just keep coming, dozens and dozens of them," Wynn-Williams wrote.
"It's almost comical. Just when you think there could not be any more, more step in," she wrote.
The men ended up forming an "impenetrable dividing line" between Xi's and Zuckerberg's dressing rooms, Wynn-Williams wrote, calling them a "human Chinese wall."
"President Xi is so obscured that he doesn't even have to risk making eye contact with Mark," Wynn-Williams wrote, adding that Xi's men dispersed after he entered his dressing room.
"Uh, I guess that pull-aside isn't going to happen," Zuckerberg told his staff, per Wynn-Williams' account.
To be sure, Zuckerberg has managed to meet Xi on other occasions.
In September 2015, Zuckerberg got to speak to Xi when the Chinese leader visited Seattle for a two-day visit. They conversed briefly, and Zuckerberg later posted an image of himself with Xi on Facebook. Zuckerberg said he spoke to Xi entirely in Chinese, and called the moment a "meaningful personal milestone."
Wynn-Williams โ an international lawyer and former New Zealand diplomat โ joined Facebook in 2011 and became its director of global public policy.
In her book, Wynn-Williams gave her account of Facebook's efforts to enter the Chinese market. Facebook's leaders considered making major concessions, including letting Beijing control how and what content was displayed on the platform, she wrote.
A spokesperson for Meta told Business Insider that the stories in it came from "an employee terminated eight years ago for poor performance."
"We do not operate our services in China today. It is no secret we were once interested in doing so as part of Facebook's effort to connect the world," the spokesperson said.
"This was widely reported beginning a decade ago. We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we'd explored, which Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019," the spokesperson added.
In a separate response to Wynn-Williams' book, Facebook referenced Zuckerberg's comments on China in 2019.
During Zuckerberg's 2019 speech at Georgetown University โ he objected to the censorship of protests on platforms like Facebook's competitor, TikTok.
Zuckerberg then called censorship "one of the reasons we don't operate Facebook, Instagram, or our other services in China."
"I wanted our services in China because I believe in connecting the whole world, and I thought we might help create a more open society," Zuckerberg said. "I worked hard to make this happen. But we could never come to agreement on what it would take for us to operate there, and they never let us in."
Facebook never made it across China's Great Firewall โ and as of today, Meta's core products remain shut out of China's insular social media system.
The Chinese, meanwhile, operate an ecosystem of social media applications that function independently of their Western versions. Baidu, WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin โ Chinese substitutes for Google, WhatsApp, X, Instagram, and TikTok โ are what's used in the country instead.
Representatives for Meta and the Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment from BI.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has signaled support for the country's private sector following years of crackdown.
Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images
Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with the country's top tech leaders, signaling support for the private sector.
China has cracked down on Big Tech in recent years as it prioritized national security over private sector profit-making priorities.
Chinese tech shares rallied after Xi acknowledged the importance and contributions of the private sector.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has signaled that he's ready for business again in a high-profile meeting featuring the country's top tech bosses.
On Monday, Xi presided over a meeting with China's private sector leaders โ including a beaming Jack Ma clad in a black Mao suit.
At the meeting, Xi urged the executives to "show their talent" and messaged support for private businesses. His audience included gaming giant Tencent CEO Pony Ma, electric vehicle maker BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu, and Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei.
"It is necessary to resolutely remove all kinds of obstacles to the equal use of production factors and fair participation in market competition,โ Xi said, according to Xinhua state news agency.
Beijing should โcontinue to promote the fair opening of the competitive field of infrastructure to all kinds of business entities, and continue to make great efforts to solve the problem of difficult and expensive financing for private enterprises,โ Xi told the business leaders.
On Tuesday, Chinese tech shares rallied on the positive signal that Beijing recognizes the importance of the private sector's contribution to its challenged economy.
Xi's encouraging stance toward the private sector on Monday is a stark contrast to Beijing's scrutiny of the broader private sector over the last few years. The government has cracked down on private companies across various sectors, including those in online gaming and tutoring.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Tech Index closed 2.5% higher near a three-year high on Tuesday, bringing gains this year to 26%. The broader Hang Seng Index closed 1.6% higher.
To be sure, Chinese tech shares have already been posting strong gains in the last few weeks following the meteoric rise of startup DeepSeek's latest flagship AI model.
"For the past few years, the Chinese authorities had prioritized national security over private sector profit-making priorities," Tai Wei Lim, a professor of business at Japan's Soka University, told Business Insider.
Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Alibaba closed 3.2% higher in Hong Kong on Jack Ma's seeming return to favor.
In late 2020, he angered Beijing with public criticism of China's financial regulators. An outspoken and high-profile Alibaba cofounder, he largely disappeared from public view after Beijing cracked down on his tech empire. It also cost Ant Group, which he founded, its initial public offering.
Jack Ma's appearance at Xi's meeting with business is particularly striking because it signals that "tech leaders seeking profit-making commercial research and products are welcomed" once again, said Lim, who specializes in the political economy of East Asia.
Xi's appearance 'is all-important'
Xi's personal endorsement of China's tech titans on Monday further boosts sentiment amid intensifying geopolitical rivalry and a trade war with the US in President Donald Trump's second term.
Against this backdrop, the rise of DeepSeek โ which triggered an AI-related sell-off on Wall Street last month โ highlights the importance of the private sector in China's economic ecosystem, Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis, told BI.
DeepSeek's stunning breakthrough is a trigger showing "China cannot compete with the US without equal treatment and regulatory flexibility given to private firms," Ng said.
Despite Xi's personal stamp of approval, analysts say Beijing still needs to do more to support a broad economic recovery.
"The move can boost investors' sentiment as more capital bet on the growth in China's AI ability, but the impact on economic growth will depend on whether there is a real policy change," said Ng, referring to a friendly regulatory environment that provides a level playing field for all companies.
But Xi's personal appearance with private sector business leaders is a big deal on its own and a sign of state support in China's high-context political culture, said Lim.
"Given Xi is the most powerful leader since Mao and he is the designated 'Core Leader,' his personal appearance at the meeting with the tech business leaders โ China's version of the 'tech bros' โis all-important," said Lim.
President Donald Trump floated a joint meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming he wants all countries to move toward denuclearization.ย
Trump on Thursday told reporters he plans to advance these denuclearization talks once "we straighten it all out" in the Middle East and Ukraine, comments that come as the U.S., Russia and Ukraine are actively pursuing negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.ย
"Thereโs no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many," Trump said Thursday at the White House. "You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and theyโre building nuclear weapons."
"Weโre all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive," he said.
The U.S. is projected to spend approximately $756ย billion on nuclear weapons between 2023 and 2032, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released in 2023.ย
Additionally, Trump said that he was aiming to schedule meetings with Xi and Putin early on in his second term and request that the countries cut their military budgets in half. The president said he believes "we can do that," and remained indifferent about whether he traveled to Xi or Putin, or if they visited the White House.ย
Meanwhile, the U.S. has dramatically reduced its nuclear arsenal since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.ย
The U.S. maintains 3,748 nuclear warheads as of September 2023, a drop from the stockpile of 22,217 nuclear warheads in 1989, according to the Department of Energy. The agency reported the U.S. owned a maximum of 31,255 nuclear warheads in 1966.ย
In comparison, Russia has an estimated stockpile of roughly 4,380 nuclear warheads, while China boasts an arsenal of roughly 600, according to the Federation of American Scientists.ย
Trumpโs remarks build on previous statements he made in January at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where he signaled interest in talks on denuclearization with both Russia and China.ย
"Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we donโt even want to talk about today, because you donโt want to hear it," Trump said on Jan. 23.ย
Previous talks between the U.S., Russia and China fell through in 2020 during Trumpโs first administration after he refused to sign an extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia to impose limits on each countryโs nuclear arsenals. The treaty ultimately was renewed under the Biden administration and now expires in 2026, but Russia suspended its participation.ย
On Thursday, Trump accused these negotiations of falling apart due what he called the "rigged election" in 2020.ย
Trump also said on Thursday that Putin wants peace after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, comments that followed back-to-back calls with the Russian leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday.ย
Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in New York in September 2024, urged Putin to cease the war โ or face sanctions โ in a post on Truth Social on Jan. 22.ย
"Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE," Trump wrote. If we don't make a 'deal', and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries."
China's response to tariffs was 'clearly premeditated,' one economist said.
Chip Somodevilla; Wagner Meier / Getty Images
China retaliated with its own tariffs minutes after the US's tariffs went into effect on Tuesday.
The quick but measured response suggests that China has been strategic.
Tariffs on Mexico and Canada were delayed by a month after both countries struck a deal with Trump.
Beijing's announcement of retaliatory tariffs on US goods arrived on Tuesday. The news came fast, but with less punch than expected.
"China's tariffs are relatively measured and not symmetrical in scale, touching only an estimated $20 billion in US exports, compared with the more than $500 billion in Chinese exports that will be affected by US across-the-board tariffs," said Jeremy Chan, a consultant for Eurasia Group.
But analysts told Business Insider that the targeted and calibrated nature of the response doesn't mean Beijing is backing down.
"Clearly this is premeditated," Louise Loo, the lead economist for Greater China at Oxford Economics, told Business Insider.
The "carefully curated lists on specific goods simply imply, in our view, that China is prepared to retaliate as and when, rather than back down on aggressive tariffs from the US," she said.
A calculated and strategic move from Beijing
Trump is dealing with a China that's showing restraint. Beijing has been calculated, strategic, and measured in its response, economists and foreign policy analysts told BI.
"China normally waits until measures are implemented, not when they are announced, to retaliate," said Eurasia Group's Chan. "In this instance, Beijing announced its response within minutes of the 10% tariff hike going into effect, showing that it was prepared."
Trump kicked off his trade war with China back in 2018, imposing tariffs on imports from China, like steel and aluminum. That resulted in a series of tit-for-tat responses between the US and China.
Austin Strange, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's department of politics and public administration, told BI that China's quick reaction shouldn't come as a surprise. Leaders have "hindsight from dealing with highly unpredictable policies during Trump's first term," he said.
The specific categories on China's tariff list were no accident.
"The restrictions on China exports of key minerals โ iridium, molybdenum, etc. โ is meant to retard development of a few strategic industries in the US, including solar panels, sophisticated weapons, and batteries," said Thierry Wizman, a global foreign exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie Group.
China's measured response doesn't mean heavier hits won't come
China's response to Trump's opening move was relatively measured, the analysts who spoke to BI agreed.
Chris Fasciano, the chief market strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network, said China's response seemed "designed to send a message" while not causing "too much damage."
"Through this lens their tariff response seems to be moderate in nature compared to the blanket 10% tariffs implemented by the Trump administration," Fasciano said.
China's tariffs included agricultural machinery, but not agricultural products.
In 2018, China slapped 25% tariffs on US soybeans, beef, pork, wheat, corn, and sorghum imports to retaliate against Trump's tariffs. China imported around $34 billion worth of US agriculture goods in fiscal year 2023.
Ian Ja Chong, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI that China's "more calibrated" opening move leaves room for "heavier measures later on."
"It suggests that Beijing may be ready to negotiate. Whether what each side offers the other is good enough is another matter altogether," Chong said.
These Trump-term tariffs are also hitting the Chinese economy in the midst of a prolonged downturn, which leaves Beijing with less wiggle room for retaliation.
To be sure, US tariffs on China did not go away when Trump completed his first term in 2021.
Then-President Joe Biden maintained Trump's tariffs and even expanded them. In May, Biden announced tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese goods. Besides targeting steel, aluminum, and medical products, Biden also raised tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 25% to 100%.
Against the combative backdrop of strategic geopolitical rivalry, Beijing has to show that it, too, can play the game.
"China has no choice but to be aggressive. The measures can always be reversed anyway, so it makes sense to be aggressive," Macquarie's Wizman said.
How Washington will respond remains uncertain, but early indications are that the groundbreaking news will not dramatically shift US policy.
"Hopefully, the release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win because we have the greatest scientists in the world," Trump said during a speech before House Republicans at their policy planning retreat.
Financial industry analysts and technology experts point to Trump's previous trade policy announcement, which laid out a plan for heightened export controls in an event like DeepSeek's rollout.
Trump's first term accelerated the rise of China hawks in the nation's capital. His administration went hard after Chinese tech companies like Huawei and laid the groundwork for a potential ban on TikTok, though he has waffled on the latter. President Joe Biden expanded those efforts.
TikTok wasn't the first showdown between the world's two largest economies over the future of technology. Here's how Deepseek will fit into the larger US-China fight.
What sets Deepseek apart from TikTok or even Huawei?
Both Trump and Xi view AI development as seminal to their nations' futures. In announcing a $500 billion AI project known as "Stargate" last week, Trump said the goal was for the US to continue to lead AI.
Gregory C. Allen, director of Wadhwani AI Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Xi has long focused on tech development. He cited some of the specific benchmarks laid out in his "Made in China 2025" plan, which was announced a decade ago. Two years later, China released its AI strategic plan, which called for Beijing to dominate the world in AI by 2030.
"The leaders in both the United States and China are convinced that leadership in artificial intelligence is foundational to the future of military and economic power," Allen told Business Insider. "And they're right."
How has the US responded to Chinese AI advances?
The first Trump administration imposed export controls on software and technology on Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Just before Trump left office in 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressured the Dutch government to block a company from making a semiconductor deal with China. In 2022, the Biden administration imposed export controls on advanced chips such as Nivida's H100 used to train AI models. In December, Biden expanded those limitations.
It remains to be seen what Trump will do. Allen and financial analysts have pointed to Trump's trade policy, which tasked the Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce to lead a review of US export controls "in light of developments involving strategic adversaries or geopolitical rivals."
Have US control efforts failed?
The current debate in Washington will likely focus on whether Biden-era export controls failed. If that's the case, then perhaps a debate will ensue over whether those limitations really matter.
Allen said this misses the point since export limitations are a lagging indicator. He added that the first round of Biden policies also allowed China to obtain more advanced chips than the White House may have anticipated.
"When you refuse to sell something to China in the future, it doesn't magically destroy everything that you sent to China in the past," he said.
Allen added that the Biden 2022 export controls still allowed Nivida to sell H800 chips legally, which meant China obtained crucial technology that had only degraded performance by a fraction of what the US intended. The exact chips, Allen said, DeepSeek claimed it used to train its R1 model.
"We are currently living through the poor design of the first package of AI chip export controls that the Biden administration launched in October 2022," he said. "But will soon be living through the lagging impact of the successful controls designed in October 2023."
Ed Mills, a Raymond James policy analyst, wrote in a research note that while there may be initial talk of easing control policies, the Trump administration will likely double down.
"While we expect to see a narrative emerge that DeepSeek proves the ineffectiveness of current export controls, it will most likely be interpreted by the Trump administration as a reason to tighten controls and further limit and track who has access to leading-edge technology," Mills wrote.
How has Beijing responded to US actions?
Chinese government officials repeatedly threatened to retaliate in the lead-up to the passage of the potential TikTok ban. Last March, a government official called efforts to force the social media app to sever ties "an act of bullying." It remains to be seen how Beijing will respond if a US-approved buyer is found.
In the past, Chinese media has pushed for tougher responses when the US and other Western nations moved to limit companies like Huawei.
Allen said the timing of the Deepseek announcement also fits within a larger theme of the China seeking to embarrass US leaders at critical times.
"I don't think it's a surprise that the model itself was released during the first week of the Trump administration," Allen said. "This was an attempt to have an impact on the US media discourse, the global media discourse and that's exactly what's happening."
What else has the US done about Chinese tech companies?
Under Trump and Biden, the federal government has taken multiple actions to curtail some of China's largest tech companies.
The first Trump administration moved to block Huawei from working with US companies. In 2022, the FCC banned US sales of new Huawei and ZTE-made devices, China's two largest telecommunications equipment manufacturers. Huawei does little business in the US now.
Rubio, a longtime Huawei critic, pushed Latin American countries to follow the US' lead in banning the telecom giant from shaping the future of 5G.
Trump also kick started the discussion over banning TikTok. While little information is public, lawmakers have cited national security concerns related to TikTok's parent company, ByteDance.
As a 2024 presidential hopeful, Trump backed away from his previous support for banning TikTok if ByteDance failed to sever ties to Beijing. In one of his final acts in office, Biden declined to enforce the ban after TikTok failed to convince the US Supreme Court to delay its implementation. Trump has since granted an additional 75-day reprieve, though it is outside the law.
What effect will this have on the AI race?
In the near term, DeepSeek's success has undermined the belief that bigger is always better for AI development. The Chinese-based startup developed its R1 model at roughly $5.6 million, a drop in the bucket compared to what OpenAI, Meta, and other companies are spending.
"I think policymakers need to ask a lot of questions about what is happening," Darrell West, a senior fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings, told BI. "They need to understand how this company seemed to have made so much progress without spending a lot of money."
Marc Andreessen, the cofounder of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote on X that is is AI's "Sputnik moment," a reference to the then-Soviet Union's early success in launching a satellite in 1957.
The Cold War advancement shocked the US, jump-starting the Space Race, which the Americans ultimately won by landing on the Moon just over a decade later.
President-elect Trump confirmed Friday that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping days before Trump will be inaugurated into office.
"I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China. The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A.," Trump posted on Truth Social.
"It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!"
China's state news agency Xinhua had first reported the call, which comes three days before Inauguration Day.
Trump had extended an invitation to Xi to attend the inauguration ceremony on Monday. Incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital last month Trump hopes to create "an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just our allies but our adversaries and our competitors, too."
Xi declined to attend, but he is sending one of his top representatives, Vice President Han Zheng, to Washington, D.C. in his stead.ย
China's foreign ministry made the announcement Friday morning before the two leaders spoke, the South China Morning Post reported.
"We stand ready to work with the new US government to enhance dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship, and find the right way for the two countries to get along," the ministry said.
On the campaign trail, Trump threatened to slap steep tariffs on Chinese-made products, renewing fears of a trade war once he assumes office. Now questions abound whether Trump will keep that promise amid deteriorating U.S. relations with Beijing.ย
China has been threatening U.S. allies like the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan in the South China Sea. Theyโve been accused of sending Chinese nationals to spy on U.S. military bases and sent what was believed to be a surveillance balloon across the U.S.
While Trump ushered in an era of steep trade competition and increased support for Taiwan in his first term, President Biden did not necessarily warm the relationship.ย
Trump increased duties by at least 10% during his first term on over $300 billion worth of goods. Biden did not lift those tariffs.ย
That was on top of export controls on a variety of items that started under Trump and furthered under Biden.
If Trump successfully raises tariffs to 60%, it could reduce Chinaโs exports by $200 billion and cause a one percentage point drag on GDP, said Zhu Baoliang, a former chief economist at Chinaโs economic planning agency, at a Citigroup conference.ย
Last year, China exported about $500 billion worth of goods to the U.S., about 15% of all of its exports.ย
Officials with the Trump transition team have reportedly been in talks with the Chinese government ahead of Trump's inauguration. Trump said earlier this month that he thought he and Xi would "probably get along very well."ย
Xi had called Trump in November to congratulate him on his election win and had warned the U.S. would "gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation" with China.
China's foreign ministry says it is sending Vice President Han Zheng to attend Trump's inauguration. The Trump transition team initially invited President Xi Jinping to the event.
Huang Jingwen/Xinhua via Getty Images
The Chinese foreign ministry says Vice President Han Zheng will attend Donald Trump's inauguration.
The Trump team said in December that it had invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping, but Xi will not attend.
Foreign heads of state do not usually attend US presidential inaugurations.
China's foreign ministry says it is sending Vice President Han Zheng to attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20.
The Trump transition team said last month that it had invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the event. The move came as a surprise given that foreign heads of state usually do not attend US presidential inaugurations.
"China follows the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation in viewing and growing its relationship with the United States," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday morning local time announcing Han's attendance.
The statement said China is "ready to work with the new US government to enhance dialogue and communication" and "jointly pursue a stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship."
The White House, Trump's transition team, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and the Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
'A channel of communication'
International relations experts told BI the move to send Han to Trump's inauguration is a positive sign for the US-China relationship.
"Han's attendance is significant, and even though the vice president does not really wield political power, it is still consequential, and he certainly will be able to play the role of an interlocutor and a channel of communication," Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at the Nanyang Technological University, told BI.
"Symbolically, the presence of Han for Trump's inauguration is also important to underline that political communication and cooperation is possible despite the campaign rhetoric and threat of tariffs," Loh added.
Han's visit to the US also allows China to "respectfully accept Trump's invitation without sending too strong of a signal or doing anything overly unconventional," said Austin Strange, associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's department of politics and public administration.
"China's government prefers a better, more stable relationship with the United States, and it can signal an initially friendly posture to the new administration, without making any concrete commitments, by sending a representative such as Han," Strange added.
Ian Ja Chong, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI that while Han's presence suggests "respect for Trump and the invitation," he isn't a member of China's Politburo Standing Committee, the Chinese Communist Party's top decision-making body.
"That insulates the CCP and the Politburo Standing Committee somewhat from blame should US-PRC relations not turn out as the CCP and Xi would prefer," Chong said.
"The PRC is willing to accord respect to Trump and set relations on a positive footing, but are not ready to engage with the Trump administration on substantive issues at the inauguration," he added.
Trump made tariff threats on the campaign trail
US-China relations have been tenuous since Trump's first term, with both the Trump and Biden administrations imposing tariffs on China.
In May, President Joe Biden announced an increase in tariffs on Chinese-exported steel, aluminum, medical products, and electric vehicles.
Those tariffs could be ratcheted up even further when Trump takes office. During his campaign, Trump said he plans to impose tariffs of more than 60% on Chinese goods entering the US.
In November, Trump said he plans to impose an additional 10% import tariff on Chinese goods unless China does more to curb the inflow of fentanyl into the US.
In January, Trump said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that his representatives have been speaking to Xi's staff.
"I had a great relationship with President Xi. It was very solid, very strong, very friendly. He's a strong man, a powerful man," Trump told Hewitt in an interview that aired on January 6.
"He's certainly revered in China, but they are having problems and I think we will probably get along very well, I predict, but you know it's got to be a two-way street," Trump added.
China has been trying to boost national security awareness this year with regular posts on things to beware of.
Li Xin/Xinhua via Getty Images
China has been trying to get its people to be more vigilant for foreign spies this year.
The government has pushed warnings for things to beware of, like weird pens and strangers.
Xi urged officials last year to adopt "worst-case-scenario thinking" for national security.
It's been a busy year for the front-facing team of China's State Security Ministry.
They've been following up on a nationwide push by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to maximize public awareness of foreign espionage.
Xi told officials in June 2023 that the country's national security issues had risen significantly, and that they should adopt "worst-case-scenario thinking" to prepare for potential "perilous, stormy seas" ahead.
That mandate has, in part, taken shape in 2024 through a series of posts on government accounts on WeChat, or China's version of Facebook.
But they also contain clear warnings for things that could seem innocent, such as beautiful women offering "love traps" or drones disguised as dragonflies.
Funny-looking lighters, pens, and dragonflies
Spy gadgets aren't just a movie concept, the State Security Ministry said in August.
"In real life, some inconspicuous daily necessities around us may also contain mysteries," it wrote in a post about "hidden gadgets."
It told the story of an unnamed businessman bidding on an overseas project who discovered microphones in a box of napkins.
Funny-looking dragonflies might be drones, the ministry warned.
Screenshot/WeChat/Ministry of State Security
The ministry added that pens can be cameras, lighters can be listening devices, and insect-like drones could be used to gather intelligence.
'Good-hearted people' with cash to spare
The same month, the ministry told the tale of Little Wei, a senior university student who grew up orphaned in a poor mountainous region.
It warned that Wei, a budding, top-scoring student, had come across a generous donor named "Teacher L" who offered to subsidize him until he graduated from college. In return, Wei would have to help with research projects and field surveys, for which he would be paid even more money.
The ministry said Wei later found a job that gave him access to confidential information, which he passed to Teacher L at the latter's behest.
The ministry dubbed such people "wolves in sheep's clothing."
"Their methods are despicable and have no bottom line. They often disguise themselves as 'good-hearted people,' 'passionate people,' and 'caring people' around young people," it added.
Job offers
Young students have been a recurring concern in the ministry's messaging this year.
It wrote in September that it had found foreign spy agencies trying to recruit students with market research or science-related jobs touting "small efforts and high returns."
Officials said that eventually, the spies would ask the students to start "collecting and compiling internal scientific research and academic materials, photographing military sensitive areas."
'Handsome men or beautiful women'
Online dating could also be teeming with danger, the ministry warned in the same September post.
Foreign spies may "even disguise themselves as 'handsome men' or 'beautiful women' and pretend to be close friends and drag young students into a false 'love' trap," it wrote.
The ministry urged young people making friends online to be "highly vigilant and clear-headed."
Express delivery
Authorities have also released statements about courier deliveries, which are especially cheap and widely used in China.
"In recent years, foreign espionage and intelligence agencies have been increasingly rampant in stealing secrets through delivery channels," the ministry wrote in August.
It said it had found a case where a "foreign institution" had sent a hazardous powder to a Chinese research center. The ministry also said it had uncovered shipments of non-native animal species, sent to disrupt the local ecology, like "red-eared sliders, alligator snapping turtles, American bullfrogs, fall armyworms, and red fire ants."
Telling your date you work in the military
In November, the Chinese navy told its personnel in the "internet generation" โ or millennials and Gen Z sailors โ not to post their military status online.
"A military profession is of a political, confidential, and disciplinary nature. Resolve not to reveal your military identity online," the navy said in its post.
Chinese officers "eager for love" may be vulnerable to criminals if they post their military status online, the Chinese navy said.
VCG/VCG via Getty Images
It warned especially of young officers and seamen who are "eager for love" and might try to snag dates by displaying their military status.
"If you expose your military identity to gain attention, it's very easy to become the focus of criminals," the navy wrote.
Rock music
The South China Morning Post reported in September that a new foundational textbook for college students warned of rock music and pop culture as "covers" for color revolutions.
Color revolutions generally refer to the Arab Spring and anti-government protests in post-Soviet states. For years, Beijing has accused the US of orchestrating them.
The textbook is likely to be made mandatory reading in at least some schools. State media has called it the "first unified textbook" of all of the principles and ideals that a core committee answering to Xi has tried to promote in the last 10 years.
The part left unsaid
Notably, China rarely says who these "foreign spies" work for, though these messages have come against the backdrop of frosty tensions between Washington and Beijing.
"Part of this is inevitable," Dylan Loh, a professor at the Public Policy and Global Affairs program at Singapore's National Technological University, told Business Insider. "As China grows, the amount of national security concerns and interests will certainly increase."
"The other part is reflective of geopolitics today, especially in the context of US-China competition," he said.
President Joe Biden and Xi met in November during the APEC summit, a rare public occasion where both countries are seen holding amicable talks.
LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Overall, Loh said, it's indicative of a bigger push by China to group more issues into the domain of national security.
Ian Ja Chong, a professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said it's not clear how effective China's messaging is, but that its strategy seems to rely on repetition.
"Even if a vast majority of people ignore or become desensitized to such claims, there may be some among the public for whom these ideas of danger become a source of motivation," he said.
The danger could lie in this suspicion growing into nationalism, he said.
"There remain allegations that attacks on Japanese schools in Suzhou and Shenzhen earlier this year, as well as an attack on US teachers in Jilin, resulted from a growing sense of foreign threat in the PRC," Chong said, referring to China by its formal name.
Xi's drive goes beyond social media messaging. BI's Huileng Tan reported in May 2023 about China's sweeping updates to its anti-espionage law that broadened the definition of spying and the transfer of important information.
Since the original law passed in 2014, China has detained and charged dozens of foreign businesspeople with espionage. One of the most recent cases involves a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma, a Tokyo-based pharmaceutical firm, accused by China of spying. According to Japanese media, he was the 17th Japanese citizen to be detained under suspicion of espionage in China, and his trial opened in November.
FIRST ON FOX: A top diplomat of the Chinese Communist Party, who recently replaced a controversial official with deep ties to top New York Democrats, recently touted his relationship with an American university president and former top education official in New Jersey.ย
Chen Li, who assumed the role of consul general of the Peopleโs Republic of China in New York last month, took to social media last week to praise the "warm hospitality" he received from Kean University President Lamont Repollet.
"Absolutely overwhelmed by the warm hospitality from President Repollet. I truly felt at home on this campus," Li wrote on X. "The commitment to bilateral educational exchange and people to people connections is key to the success of Wenzhou-Kean University, a Chinese-American joint institution."
Repollet, who served as New Jersey's commissioner of education under Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy for more than two years, was seen smiling in two of the photos that Li posted. According to Repollet's Kean University biography, he was in charge of "overseeing the shift to remote education amid the COVID-19 pandemic and playing a key role in planning for the 2020-2021 school year."
Despite Biden and Trump administration officials warning about the influence of the CCP, Repollet has developed deep ties to China dating back several years, a Fox News Digital review found. He most recently visited Beijing in October of this year to give a keynote speech at the Triennial Conference of the International Association of University Presidents, which was held in Beijing.
Press releases from the conference emphasized how Repollet was passionate about equity in education and that his keynote speech highlighted how "AI is a revolutionary tool that can foster equity and transform how we engage with students and support their success."
"AI has the power to help close achievement gaps and ensure that every student, no matter their challenges, has access to high-quality educational resources," he continued. "By offering personalized learning experiences, AI empowers historically marginalized students with the tools they need to succeed."
Months earlier, Chinese state media amplified China President Xi Jinping's letter to Repollet, which was in response to a letter he sent to Xi, according to state media.
"Recently, President Xi Jinping replied to a letter from Lamont Repollet, president of Kean University of the United States, encouraging Chinese and American universities to strengthen exchanges and cooperation and contribute to China-U.S. friendship," the Chinese government said in a press release.
"Recalling witnessing the signing ceremony of the China-U.S. cooperation agreement on jointly establishing Wenzhou-Kean University in 2006 at Kean University, Xi Jinping said he is pleased to see that with the joint efforts of both sides, Wenzhou-Kean University has achieved remarkable results and become a landmark project in China-U.S. educational cooperation."
"Xi expressed appreciation for what Repollet said in his letter about deepening cooperation with Wenzhou-Kean University and encouraging American students to come to China for exchange and study, and called on universities of the two countries to step up exchanges and cooperation through different modalities to cultivate young envoys who know both countries well, and build more bridges to promote China-U.S. friendship," the statement continued.
Additionally, a press release from Wenzhou-Kean University touted Repollet's "momentous" visit to China in April 2023.
"Kean University President Lamont O. Repollet and his delegation embarked on a momentous visit to Wenzhou, marking the first visit in three years," the press release said. "This visit presented a unique opportunity to strengthen the interactions between the two universities, foster people-to-people exchanges between Zhejiang province and New Jersey in the United States, and enhance the long-standing friendship between the two countries."
The press release said Repollet arrived in China on March 20, 2023, and he "wasted no time" meeting with Wenzhou Party Secretary Shuji Liu Xiaotao.
"Mr. Liu Xiaotao expressed his hope that the two sides would continue to build a model of Sino-US cooperation in education and foster a bridge of friendly exchanges, with a bright future ahead for the university," the press release states. "President Repollet extended his heartfelt gratitude to the Wenzhou government for its unwavering support toward the construction and development of WKU."
Xiaotao has been a member of the Chinese Communist Party since 1991 and has served in various roles over the last few decades.
Additionally, a Chinese state media company held an event in New York City in September of this year that listed Repollet as a speaker where, according to a press release, he "emphasized the importance of cultural exchange and people-to-people diplomacy in fostering mutual understanding between nations."
The slate of speakers included several Chinese officials, including Xie Feng, Chinese ambassador to the U.S., and Shen Haixiong, the deputy minister of the publicity department of the CPC Central Committee. Haixiong also serves as the head of the China Media Group, which is a crucial media conglomerate that plays a major role in the country's state media apparatus.
While Repollet's ties to China have become stronger since he became the president of Kean University, his Facebook profile shows that he made multiple visits to China before he became the top administrator at Kean.ย
For example, a 2016 Facebook post shows Repollet attending Wenzhou-Kean University's inaugural commencement in China as a member of the university's board of trustees. He attended the 2017 commencement in China also, according to another Facebook post.
Prior to Chen Li taking over the top position in China's New York consulate, that position was held by Huang Ping, who has a long history of promoting CCP propaganda and calling the CCP a "great party," denying the alleged Uyghur genocide, and meeting with officials across the United States at universities, media companies and in elected office.
Ping repeatedly met with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, all Democrats. Earlier this year, Ping was referenced dozens of times in an indictment involving one of Hochul's former top aides.ย
Repollet also has ties to Ping dating back to 2021, according to a press release from the New York Chinese consulate. Ping and Repollet met virtually in December 2021, where Ping congratulated him on his appointment at Kean University and commended "the university for setting a good example for China-U.S. educational cooperation by its 10-year successful campus in Wenzhou, China."
"[Repollet] highly agrees that education cooperation plays a unique role in people-to-people exchange and in enhancing understanding and friendship between the Chinese and American people," the consulate's press release said. "[Repollet] confirms that the university highly values globalization and diversity, and firmly supports cooperation with China."
Months earlier, Repollet recorded a video on behalf of the New York Chinese consulate celebrating "the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China." In the video, he touted his university's "strong ties" to China and said he was "immensely grateful to our Chinese partners and to the people at Kean USA who continues to work together to help this university and especially our students thrive."
"I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our partners in China to further develop this great institution and to celebrate events like National Day In China together [and] well into the future," Repollet continued.
A 2023 Facebook post also shows Repollet participating in an event marking the final day of the Chinese New Year, which featured Ping.
Michael Sobolik, the author of "Countering Chinaโs Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance," sounded the alarm about this close relationship between Repollet and China, telling Fox News Digital this relationship is a "cautionary tale."
"The university hosts a Human Rights Institute, but it makes no mention of Beijing's ongoing genocide of Uyghurs, its cultural genocide in Tibet, its political crackdown in Hong Kong, or its broader oppression of the Chinese people at home and abroad," Sobolik continued. "This is what happens when American universities partner with the Chinese Communist Party: money and market access incentivize Americans to ignore the party's atrocities and remain silent."
China's New York consulate, which has previously toed the line on the CCP's narrative while responding to multiple Fox News Digital inquiries, dismissed Sobolik's analysis by calling him a "so-called โexpertโ" that "lacks a basic understanding of China."
"The statements regarding Xinjiang, Xizang, Hong Kong, and human rights are factually incorrect and represent typical disinformation. We firmly opposes such slander and smear," the consulate continued. "Educational exchange and cooperation between China and the U.S. align with the laws and common interests of both sides, and are transparent and beyond reproach."
"Kean University is known for promoting educational equity and inclusivity, and its cooperation with China will provide more learning and development opportunities for students of all ethnic backgrounds in the U.S.," the consulate added. "We urge some people in the U.S. to remove their โcolored glasses,โ view the cooperation objectively and positively."
Fox News Digital reached out to Kean University for comment, but did not receive a response.
President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping arrive at a state dinner in Beijing in November 2017.
Thomas Peter - Pool/Getty Images
Trump's decision to invite China's Xi Jinping to his inauguration surprised many observers.
China is the US' main geopolitical rival, jostling for dominance across a range of trade and diplomatic issues.
Trump has long reveled in unpredictability, balancing confrontational China policies with praise.
When President-elect Donald Trump invited China's President Xi Jinping, the leader of the US' biggest geopolitical rival, to his January inauguration on Thursday, it came as somewhat of a surprise.
The sight of Xi, China's authoritarian strongman, seated alongside top US political and military officials in DC would be incongruous, to say the least.
But Trump has long reveled in unpredictability, and has often balanced his confrontational China policies with years of lavishing praise for Xi.
Some see Trump's invitation as the latest power play designed to imbalance Xi and reset US-China relations.
"I think it's a gimmick. It would be impossible for Xi to attend without giving the sort of sign that he's almost like a vassal," Kerry Brown, an associate of the Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House and director of the Lau China Institute at King's College, London, told Business Insider.
Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy adviser at the International Crisis Group, said the invitation also reflects Trump's faith in the personal, transactional relationships he's formed with strongman leaders.
"Trump's invitation reflects his desire to rebuild a rapport with President Xi, which he believes will be the decisive dynamic in shaping US-China relations during his second administration," Wyne told BI.
Reports on Thursday said that Xi would not attend the inauguration, and would instead send a top government official as envoy as an apparent gesture of goodwill.
If he did attend, it could be seen as an act of tribute to the democratic system China has sought to challenge, and the power of a state whose dominance it seeks to corrode.
"Going to Trump's inauguration makes Xi Jinping look like a supplicant to Trump, because this is a ceremony honoring Trump," Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, told ABC News.
Thomas added: "Xi would be attending to honor Trump's victory, I don't think that sits well with Xi's self-image and his political reputation in China as a nationalist strongman."
A tough road ahead
Even so, Trump's invitation is likely an audacious opening gambit as he eyes new discussions with Xi, and China is fortifying itself diplomatically and economically in anticipation, analysts told Reuters.
"Trump is performing politics," said Brown. "This is going to be a hard, difficult, technical negotiation with the Chinese if they're going to get the things they want: better market access, better balance."
China is also in a different position to when Trump first took office in 2017. Back then, the US and Chinese economies were highly interlinked.
Although close ties remain, partly in response to Trump's first-term tariffs China has moved to diversify its exports away from the US and has spent billions on research and development.
It has become the world leader in solar-panel and electric-vehicle technologies, as well as quantum computing and AI.
The US-China rivalry is also intensifying over sophisticated chip and satellite technologies, as well as rare Earth metals.
This month, China launched an antimonopoly probe into US chip giant Nvidia, and it is imposing restrictions on the export of drone parts vital for Ukraine in combatting Russia's invasion.
"It's all part of what's going to be a great, big performance next year about Trump trying to say that he's going to deliver this fantastic new deal with China. And the Chinese are well prepared for this," said Brown.
Analysts told Bloomberg that the Nvidia probe and other trade moves are bargaining chips China can use in future discussions.
All of this makes it highly unlikely that Xi will want to come to the US to clap as Trump is sworn in as president.
On Monday, Donald Trump threatened more tariffs on China, blaming Beijing for fentanyl.
China criticized Trump's tariff threats, calling them ineffective and unjustified.
Global markets have reacted cautiously, with companies adjusting strategies amid higher trade tensions.
Post-election, Donald Trump is amplifying his threats to slap higher tariffs on imports into the US โ and China is unsettled.
On Monday, the president-elect took aim at Canada, Mexico, and China on his Truth Social platform, saying he was planning sweeping tariffs on imports from the three countries.
In particular, Trump doubled down on China, saying he'd sign an executive order on his first day in office to impose an additional 10% tariff on imports from China.
The tariffs, Trump said, are because China is to blame for "the massive amounts of drugs, in particular Fentanyl, being sent into the United States."
Beijing hits back
China has already been the target of Trump's tariff threats in his campaign trail.The presidential-elect previously said he planned to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, so his Monday post against the East Asian nation elicited a familiar response.
"China's position against unilateral tariff increases is consistent," He Yadong, a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry, said at a scheduled news briefing on Thursday. "Imposing arbitrary tariffs on trading partners will not solve America's own problems."
China's foreign ministry did not address Trump's tariff threat, but Beijing took major issue with Trump's comments that it isn't doing enough to stop the flow of drugs to the US.
"China is one of the world's toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation," China's foreign affairs ministry said in a Thursday statement.
China's state media rallied around Beijing's official position.
"The excuse the president-elect has given to justify his threat of additional tariffs on imports from China is farfetched," wrote China Daily in a Tuesday editorial.
Markets are muted as investors wait and see
Global markets were jolted following Trump's post on Truth Social on Monday, but the effects have been felt mostly in foreign exchange. The Chinese yuan โ alongside the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso โ lost ground against the greenback.
China's equities markets came under some pressure on Tuesday following Trump's post. But they have largely recovered as investors take a wait-and-see stance while assessing if Trump's comments were simply bluster that he's using to extract concessions.
"The equity market reaction has so far been very benign, we would argue likely on the back of the transactional interpretation," George Saravelos, the global cohead of foreign-exchange research at Deutsche Bank, wrote on Tuesday.
US and Chinese companies are on edge
The business world isn't so relaxed.
Some US companies are already thinking ahead, front-loading imports to the US to avoid higher tariffs, economists from Goldman Sachs wrote in a Tuesday analysis of earnings calls and media reports.
The CEO of Shenzhen Lingke Technology, a Chinese lighting manufacturing that produces in several countries including China and Thailand, told Nikkei Asia on Wednesday that US importers have placed larger-than-usual orders since Trump's election victory.
"The thinking is that American clients want to lock in as many profits as possible before a new round of tariffs kick in," Wu Zhiqiang, the company's CEO, told the media outlet.
To be sure, global firms and Chinese manufacturers have already been diversifying their operations to manage concentration risks following Trump's first term and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Larger companies, like Taiwan's Foxconn โ a key supplier to Apple โ have moved some production work to other emerging countries like India and Vietnam, so they may have some breathing space.
"Clients may decide to shift production locations, but looking at Foxconn's global footprint, we are ahead. As a result, the impact on us is likely smaller compared to our competitors," Young Liu, the chairman of Foxconn, told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday.
However, some smaller companies reliant on Chinese manufacturing and plants in China are uncertain about the future of their businesses, Al Jazeera reported in early November.
It doesn't help that China's domestic consumption and overall economy have been struggling to recover following the pandemic.
Against the backdrop of economic gloom and a potential escalation of trade tensions with the world's top economy, China's homegrown firms are expanding overseas, particularly in emerging markets like Southeast Asia and Africa, and in China's Belt and Road partner countries.
Macquarie analysts wrote on Monday that they expect a wave of Chinese investment into Southeast Asia, focused on consumer goods, logistics, and technology.
