Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a preview of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, growing pressure for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign, and gunfire in the Philippine Senate.
Trump Heads to China
Cue the pomp and pageantry. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday ahead of a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping the following day. Trump’s first visit to mainland China in nearly a decade comes at a pivotal time for U.S. economic policy. As the White House seeks new deals to reduce the country’s trade deficit, Trump is expected to downplay other concerns between the two countries as well as his own voters’ worries about high costs of living due to the Iran war.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a preview of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, growing pressure for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign, and gunfire in the Philippine Senate.
Trump Heads to China
Cue the pomp and pageantry. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday ahead of a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping the following day. Trump’s first visit to mainland China in nearly a decade comes at a pivotal time for U.S. economic policy. As the White House seeks new deals to reduce the country’s trade deficit, Trump is expected to downplay other concerns between the two countries as well as his own voters’ worries about high costs of living due to the Iran war.
“I have a great relationship with President Xi, and I think it’s going to remain that way,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday before departing for China. Although he said that several major issues will be on the agenda, he stressed that the conversation will be about trade “more than anything else.”
Both sides appear interested in extending a fragile truce on China’s rare earths. In October, the White House announced that Beijing had agreed to “effectively eliminate China’s current and proposed export controls on rare earth elements.” In exchange, the United States reduced some of its highest threatened tariffs on Chinese goods. Experts expect Trump and Xi to discuss a deal on Thursday to keep the flow of rare earths going, even as Chinese customs data indicates that exports of several critical resources produced at scale only in China are still roughly 50 percent lower than where they were in the 12 months before Beijing imposed export controls in April 2025.
Artificial intelligence is also expected to be a main point of contention during Thursday’s summit. Although the United States has developed cutting-edge AI models, many of these systems remain very expensive, allowing China to take the lead in the global AI race. Trump is hoping to balance the scales by trying to convince Xi to allow major American tech companies to enter the Chinese market.
“I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. Several U.S. business executives accompanied Trump on the trip, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg.
For his part, Xi is expected to press Trump about the United States’ close relationship with Taiwan. In December, Washington announced an $11.1 billion arms sale to Taipei as part of the White House’s efforts to help Taiwan outmatch China’s military capabilities. Beijing has repeatedly denounced these actions, as China does not recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Analysts expect Trump to possibly downplay these ties to Taiwan, including by delaying arms deliveries, in exchange for better trade deals with China. Asked whether the United States should still be selling weapons to Taipei, Trump told reporters on Tuesday that “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion. That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.” His comments worried some U.S. allies, who fear that Trump may sell Taiwan’s security if China offers a better price.
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What We’re Following
Drama on Downing Street. Britain’s King Charles III read out the government’s legislative agenda for the coming parliamentary session on Wednesday, detailing a slew of long-promised Labour Party initiatives. Whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be in office long enough to see them enacted, though, remains to be seen.
Labour secured a landslide victory in parliamentary elections less than two years ago—largely on its pledge to enact major reforms to healthcare, education, and the judicial system. Charles unveiled some of these proposals on Wednesday, including plans to abolish England’s National Health Service, limit trials by jury, and introduce digital IDs.
Yet political drama on Downing Street overshadowed the king’s speech, as earlier that morning, Starmer met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who is seen as Starmer’s most likely challenger. Local media reported on Wednesday that Streeting could resign from Starmer’s cabinet as early as Thursday to seek the premiership. However, Starmer told reporters that he has “full confidence” in all of his ministers.
Calls are mounting for Starmer to resign from office after Labour suffered a crushing defeat in local elections on Thursday. Some have suggested that the rise of the far-right Reform UK party signals the death of Britain’s traditional two-party duopoly. Others maintain that Starmer must step aside to prevent Labour from losing power. Still, Starmer has repeatedly stressed that he will not abandon his post.
Evading arrest. Gunfire erupted in the Philippine Senate on Wednesday, the same day that local authorities tried to arrest Sen. Ronald dela Rosa for charges of crimes against humanity. “The emotions are high here,” Senate President Alan Cayetano told journalists shortly after the incident. “This is the Senate of the Philippines, and we are allegedly under attack.” No injuries were initially reported; however, it remains unclear who fired the shots.
Dela Rosa is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for serving as the chief enforcer of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” during which thousands of people were killed as part of Manila’s efforts to crack down on alleged drug traffickers and users. Dela Rosa has denied involvement in the illegal killings, and on Monday, he sought refuge in the Senate chamber to evade capture.
Fearing imminent arrest, dela Rosa urged supporters on Wednesday to gather in the Senate to prevent the police from carrying out the ICC warrant. “I am appealing to you, I hope you can help me. Do not allow another Filipino to be brought to The Hague,” dela Rosa said in a video on Facebook from his Senate office. Duterte awaits trial at the ICC on related charges.
Senate motion fails, again. The U.S. Senate on Wednesday narrowly rejected a Democratic-led measure to halt the Iran war. Although three Republicans broke ranks to support the legislation, the resolution still failed by a vote of 50-49. This was chamber’s seventh (and closest) attempt to end the conflict, as Democrats hope that growing public discontent will pressure Republicans to defy the White House.
Lawmakers have argued that under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, the U.S. president has passed the 60-day window to have Congress either declare war or authorize the continued use of force. Lacking both of these mandates, Democrats have demanded that Trump cease all offensive activity immediately. Trump, however, has argued that the deadline is “totally unconstitutional” and that the Iran cease-fire paused the 60-day clock.
Meanwhile, the price of the war continues to go up. A senior Defense Department official told lawmakers on Tuesday that the conflict has already cost $29 billion—a $4 billion increase from the estimated figure given late last month. Yet Trump has stressed that “the only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran” is Tehran’s nuclear weapons program, not Americans’ concerns about high costs of living. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Odds and Ends
French President Emmanuel Macron described himself as a “Pan-Africanist” this week as part of Paris’s ongoing bid for new partners across the continent. But “hall monitor” may be a better fit. During a panel at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi on Monday, Macron stepped onstage to reprimand the event’s loud audience for having what he called a “total lack of respect” for the speakers. Some praised the French president for telling off the noisy crowd. But others criticized his actions, with one French lawmaker from the hard-left France Unbowed party writing, “[A]s soon as he sets foot on the African continent, he can’t help but behave like a colonizer.”
