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President Trump’s state visit to Beijing this week was staged like a romp through the world’s greatest dealroom, complete with CEOs in tow and pomp at the Great Hall of the People. The optics were unmistakable: a U.S. president who campaigned on trade and American industry walking into the world’s second-largest economy to hammer out commercial wins for our workers and manufacturers.
Behind the banquets and the photo ops, the two leaders talked about the hard stuff — Iran, trade, and the volatile question of Taiwan — and China’s leader made clear the line Beijing will not lightly cross. Americans should be glad these conversations happened face to face, because strategic ambiguity and back-channel posturing leave our interests weakened and our allies nervous.
On the economic front, Mr. Trump touted what he called concrete commercial commitments, including a headline-grabbing pledge that China would buy a large number of Boeing jets and increase purchases of U.S. energy and agricultural goods. If true, moving product and jobs back to the United States is exactly what conservative economic policy is supposed to deliver: leverage the presidency to rebuild American industry and reward workers who were left behind for too long.
The turnout of corporate leaders on this trip was no accident; the administration made clear it was bringing American business to the table to close deals and project strength through prosperity. This is the kind of results-oriented diplomacy Republicans have called for — using America’s unmatched industrial heft as bargaining power, not surrendering to sanctimonious lectures from far-off capitals.
That said, patriotic skepticism is not naïveté. Beijing is a transactional regime that looks out for China first, and any surge in Chinese purchases of American oil, soybeans, or jets will be driven by Beijing’s self-interest just as much as ours. We should cheer the deals that help Main Street, but we must also keep our eyes open and our bargaining chips — including sanctions, tariffs, and strategic deterrence — on the table so that temporary cooperations aren’t mistaken for lasting alignment.
On the security front, Xi’s stern warnings about Taiwan make the stakes plain: our prosperity cannot come at the price of American resolve or the abandonment of freedom-loving Taiwanese who stand against brutal coercion. President Trump should be praised for leveraging economic carrots, but conservatives must insist that carrots be matched by continuing support for deterrence, clear red lines, and robust military readiness for the Indo-Pacific.
At the end of the day, patriotic Americans want peace and prosperity, not hollow presidential photo-ops that leave our defenses hollowed out. If this Beijing trip buys a few months of calmer behavior while American industry gets a shot in the arm, that’s a win — but it’s only a beginning, not an endpoint. The right response is to keep pressing for more deals that rebuild American strength while standing watchful and ready to defend our interests and our allies.
