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The art of the deal 2.0: why pragmatism is defining the new US-China trade order
For Singapore and the wider South-east Asian region, this is a double-edged sword
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Published Mon, May 18, 2026 · 07:00 AM
THE red carpet laid out at Beijing Capital International Airport for US President Donald Trump on May 14 carried a weight far heavier than mere diplomatic protocol.
As Trump stepped onto Chinese soil for the first time in nearly a decade, the global community watched a fundamentally different kind of statecraft unfold.
In years past, the US’ objective at such summits was to try to transform China’s state-led economic system – a grand, often ideological battle to rewrite the rules of global trade.
