Hope in fraught times Trump Xi bond could shift ties for the better say US experts

BEIJING - US President Donald Trump’s free hand domestically and open admiration for Chinese President Xi Jinping could make him the wild card capable of shifting the relationship between the world’s two largest powers from rivalry to cooperation, American scholars have said.

Speaking at a session developed in collaboration with The Straits Times at a World Economic Forum event in Tianjin on June 26, Harvard professor Graham Allison pointed out that Mr Trump is not a China hawk.

“If you look at the campaign last year, there were a thousand people running for office in the country in which 80 per cent of the people have a negative view of China,” he said, referring to the US general election in 2024.

“Only one person had positive things to say about China. This was Donald Trump.”

Prof Allison noted that Mr Trump had said to Mr Xi that when China and the US work together, they can solve most of the world’s problems.

He said he believed that Mr Trump is determined to be a “great deal maker” and a “great peacemaker”.

“If he is going to succeed in that mission, the opportunity for Trump and Xi to surprise us on the upside, I think, is enough to be hopeful,” said the national security analyst who has served under former US presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

Prof Allison’s optimism stands out in the current climate.

Since Mr Trump began his second term in January, the US-China rivalry has intensified – most notably with the United States’ imposition of unprecedentedly high tariffs on Chinese goods – leading many observers to take a pessimistic view of the world’s most consequential relationship.

His optimism is also striking, given that he is famous for popularising the “Thucydides Trap” – a concept that