As U.S. President Donald Trump holds a new summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, reports in Politico and Foreign Policy said that Washington’s China policy is undergoing a noticeable shift.
The “China hawk” approach that once dominated Republican circles appears to be cooling down, replaced by a more pragmatic mindset that emphasizes stability, deal-making, and risk management.
Republican China hawks fall silent
According to Politico, over the past several years, Republicans had built a strong consensus around the idea of the “China threat.” From chip export restrictions and technology blockades to military containment, taking a hardline stance against China had become almost a form of political orthodoxy.
But as Donald Trump’s second term unfolds, those voices are rapidly fading.
Trump has approved the sale of certain advanced AI chips to China, even as the U.S. Congress continues to warn that such technologies could pose espionage risks. He has also signed an agreement allowing TikTok — created by the Chinese company ByteDance — to continue operating in the United States.
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At the same time, the latest U.S. National Defense Strategy has noticeably softened the harsh rhetoric previously directed at China, placing greater emphasis instead on homeland security and strategic stability.
For Trump’s high-stakes talks with Xi Jinping the delegation accompanying him to China includes technology executives, family members, and cabinet officials. Trump hopes to advance new cooperation in technology and trade, and may even touch on the Taiwan issue.
However, unlike during Trump’s first term, many of the Republican “China hawks” within the White House and on Capitol Hill who were once the most hardline are now largely refraining from public opposition.
From ‘comprehensive confrontation’ to ‘limited cooperation’
According to Foreign Policy, the overall atmosphere surrounding Trump’s current visit to China is remarkably similar to his first visit to Beijing in 2017: emphasizing peaceful coexistence and economic cooperation.
In reality, however, U.S.–China relations went through their most intense period of confrontation in decades between those two visits.
In 2018, Trump launched a large-scale trade war against China. The United States later moved to contain Huawei, restricted China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology, and attempted to ban TikTok. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Trump administration at one point even pushed for “U.S.–China decoupling.”
Liza Tobin, who served as the White House National Security Council’s China director during Donald Trump’s first term, told Politico that after the pandemic severely damaged the global economy, Trump came to believe that Beijing was responsible and began shifting decisively toward a hardline approach.
However, after entering his second term, Trump’s thinking on China has changed once again.
According to the report, one important reason is that China has demonstrated strong retaliatory capabilities in key supply-chain sectors. In 2025, the United States raised tariffs on Chinese goods to as high as 145 percent, after which China quickly imposed export restrictions on rare earth materials. America’s high-tech and defense industries remain heavily dependent on China for these resources.
This countermeasure reportedly made officials within the Trump administration realize that Beijing possesses leverage capable of disrupting the U.S. economy and industrial supply chains, forcing Washington to reassess the costs of comprehensive confrontation.
Trump’s personal control has clearly increased
Foreign Policy argues that one of the biggest changes in Trump’s second term is the extreme concentration of decision-making power in the president himself.
Compared with his first term, Trump now places greater emphasis on loyalty rather than on the traditional professional bureaucratic system. Many major diplomatic and security decisions are discussed only among a small circle of core loyalists.
The report notes that Trump’s longtime friend, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner, now wield considerable influence over multiple international issues.
