# From ‘cheats’ to ‘great friendship’: How Trump’s rhetoric on China changed

https://mins.news/en/item/73746

- Al Jazeera, 2026-09-25 09:46 UTC
- Politics
- Original: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/25/from-cheats-to-great-friendship-how-trumps-rhetoric-on-china-changed?traffic_source=rss

> Donald Trump gave Xi Jinping an unusually warm and lavish welcome in Washington, a sharp contrast with his past descriptions of China and its leader. Their meeting extended a fragile trade-war truce by two months, while tensions over AI, rare earths, Taiwan and the Iran war remain. The article traces Trump’s changing language toward Beijing and Xi.

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