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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…
