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President Donald Trump turned Chinese President Xi Jinping’s reported swipe at the West during the U.S. and China’s high-stakes meetings in Beijing into a political attack on former President Joe Biden Thursday.
“When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct,” Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of the second day of talks between the U.S. and China.
After the U.S. delegation was greeted with pomp and circumstance at an opening ceremony Wednesday night, Xi invoked the so-called “Thucydides Trap” during opening remarks, asking whether China and the United States could avoid the historical pattern of conflict between a rising power and an established one.
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The line echoed Beijing’s broader view of a shifting global balance of power, though it is unclear if Xi explicitly called the U.S. or the West a “declining nation.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Kenny Holston/Pool Photo via AP)
“President Xi was not referring to the incredible rise that the United States has displayed to the world during the 16 spectacular months of the Trump Administration, which includes all-time high stock markets and 401K’s, military victory and thriving relationship in Venezuela, the military decimation of Iran (to be continued!),” Trump added in his post.
“The United States is the hottest Nation anywhere in the world, and hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before!” Trump continued.
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Trump went on to say that the United States “suffered immeasurably” under Biden-era policies like open borders, increased taxes, DEI, “transgender for everybody,” and sanctuary city ordinances. He agreed that “two years ago” the nation was “in decline.”
President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden at Trump’s inauguration in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
Digital reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the White House for comment.
A White House spokesperson referred Digital back to the president’s Truth Social post, but a Chinese Embassy spokesperson said in a statement that “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand.”
However, the Chinese embassy spokesperson did not respond to inquiries asking for more context about Xi’s reported comments.
Xi’s “Thucydides Trap” reference was not a direct statement that the United States or the West is declining, but it invoked a geopolitical theory about the danger of conflict when a rising power challenges an established one and came as the Chinese president raised the prospect of a future U.S.-China clash over Taiwan. The phrase has been used in U.S.–China policy circles to describe fears that China’s rise could put it on a collision course with Washington.
President Donald Trump meets with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)
“On a welcoming banquet for President Trump, President Xi pointed out that this year marks the start of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development. The over 1.4 billion people of China, drawing on the rich heritage of our over-5,000-year civilization, are advancing Chinese modernization on all fronts through high-quality development. This year is also the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. The over 300 million American people are reinvigorating the spirit of patriotism, innovation and enterprise, and ushering in a new journey for the development of the United States,” the spokesperson said in their statement to Digital.
“The peoples of China and the United States are both great peoples. Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand. We can help each other succeed and advance the well-being of the whole world. President Xi and President Trump also agreed to build a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability to promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations, and bring more peace, prosperity and progress to the world.”
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Former President Biden’s personal history with Xi dates back to both their tenures as vice presidents.
But as president, Biden’s relationship with Xi was one that involved an ongoing strategic rivalry, with the two leaders meeting in Bali in 2022 and California in 2023 as Washington and Beijing tried to stabilize ties amid disputes over Taiwan, a spy balloon caught over the United States, fentanyl and other disputes.
Digital reached out to Biden’s representatives for comment, but did not immediately hear back in time for publication.
“We should be partners, not rivals,” Xi told Trump during opening remarks that followed the welcome ceremony in front of Great Hall of the People in Beijing. “We should help each other succeed and prosper together and find the right way for major countries to get along well with each other in the new era.”
