MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Air Force One has landed in Beijing. President Trump is there to talk with China's President Xi Jinping.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Their summit will be brief. Expectations are low. But much is at stake in the trade war, and the president is bringing along many of the biggest corporate chief executives in the United States.
MARTIN: Our colleague Steve Inskeep is in Beijing for the summit. Hey there.
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: Hi there, Michel. I'm in the center of this gigantic city, and I'm with NPR's Jennifer Pak, who's based in China. And we're going to talk through the events of this summit that begins shortly. Jennifer, Leila mentioned CEOs. Who's the president bringing here?
JENNIFER PAK, BYLINE: Well, he's bringing a bunch of CEOs from Boeing, Cargill, even Nvidia - basically, companies that want to sell more to China because many of their sales were stalled because President Trump launched a trade war last year. Trump had launched tariffs on Chinese exports, and he had imposed export controls on American high tech. China struck back. So they reached a kind of pause last year, but it's really fragile. So the two leaders are meeting to stabilize the relationship. Trump wants a deal. China understands that about him and might find that easier to deal with.
INSKEEP: Well, I want people to know that you and I are just a few miles from this enormous building where Trump will be welcomed on Thursday, and we went to see it. The easiest way to do that was by renting bikes, which you can do on any street in Beijing. And as we biked through traffic, we discussed what is at stake at the summit. Here's what it sounded like.
OK. So on our right is the Forbidden City, and on the left is the Great Hall of the People. And that - am I right? - is where President Trump will be officially welcomed...
PAK: Absolutely.
INSKEEP: ...On Thursday. You've been in that building. What's it like in there? It's huge.
PAK: Yeah. It's, like, full of red plush carpet, chandeliers, marble walls. It's just massive.
INSKEEP: There's a policy argument about a summit, but there's also the symbolism of it.
PAK: Yes. It's about face and the importance of this relationship. That's a massive thing for Chinese officials - that they need to be seen as - appear to be respected.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC DRIVING BY)
INSKEEP: Bit of traffic here.
PAK: It's a very fast car.
INSKEEP: And I suppose we should note we are still approaching the Great Hall of the People that - the Trump administration's point of view is that it has been not getting that kind of respect. He now comes here wanting the Chinese to increase or, in some cases, resume purchases of American products. That's one of the things we think the United States wants out of this.
PAK: Absolutely. And China also wants to buy from the U.S. You know, one of the Chinese official's argument is, if you want to rebalance the trade deficit, then let us, China, buy more top-notch semiconductors to run our AI.
INSKEEP: (Laughter) Which is exactly...
PAK: Let us buy your...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
PAK: ...Jet engines that we need.
INSKEEP: Which is exactly what, we should note, the Biden administration, as well as the Trump administration, has not been willing to do in recent years - the United States trying to maintain its lead in artificial intelligence.
PAK: Absolutely. But guess what China's leverage is?
INSKEEP: What?
PAK: It has the crucial key minerals that America needs.
INSKEEP: Rare earths.
PAK: Well, that's the reason why a lot of analysts say that China is coming into this summit much stronger than they did almost 10 years ago when they last had Trump coming to China.
INSKEEP: Jennifer, I know we were just passing one building, but it feels like we took several minutes to do so.
PAK: (Laughter).
INSKEEP: It's a big one.
PAK: It's a big one.
INSKEEP: And NPR's Jennifer Pak was pretty confident on that yellow bike in Beijing traffic. Thanks so much.
PAK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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