Evaluating the Xi-Biden Summit

The virtual summit has come and gone and what has it changed? Virtually nothing. We had good reason to believe that more would be accomplished. Admittedly, the original meeting read-outs were relatively sparse, and new details emerged in the days that followed, indicating that more was said and done than either side initially conveyed. But the key questions facing us now are: Why did we expect more; why didn’t we get it; and what does all of this mean for China-U.S. relations going forward?

What did we expect?

Many experts believed the meeting was taking place because there would be a significant announcement, one that would finally signal a reversal of the U.S.-instigated trade war. Such an announcement seemed imminent for a number of reasons.

First, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai had conceded the trade war was self-defeating,