While the media frames President Trump’s Beijing summit with Xi Jinping as just another high-stakes photo-op, the real story runs deeper and looks strikingly familiar. Think Abraham Accords playbook, scaled for great-power rivalry.
Recall the breakthrough of Trump’s first term: instead of chasing endless Palestinian grievances or ideological purity tests, the Abraham Accords used economic incentives, technology sharing, security cooperation, and private-sector momentum to normalize relations between Israel and key Arab states. The results isolated Iran, bypassed the old diplomatic logjams, and created tangible prosperity incentives that outlasted any single administration. Adversaries were sidelined not through endless diplomacy, but by deals that made alignment with America more attractive than the alternative.
President Trump is applying that same logic to China.
This week in Beijing, Trump didn't arrive with a battalion of well-briefed diplomats or generals. He’s leading a delegation of roughly 16 top American CEOs, leaders from Tesla, Apple, Nvidia, BlackRock, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, and more. These aren't political appointees. They control supply chains, patents, capital flows, aircraft orders, semiconductor fabricating, agricultural exports, and payment systems worth trillions. The agenda is market access, regulatory relief, aircraft and agricultural purchases, AI and chip frameworks, investment mechanisms, and, critically, leverage regarding the Iran situation and Strait of Hormuz stability.
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