In hosting Trump in their two-day summit in Beijing, Xi Jinping gave his American counterpart the pomp, pageantry and standard Trump craved: the flag waving youth in Air-Force-One-blue shirts, the military honor at the Great Hall of the People, the jumping children with flowers, the tour of the Temple of Heaven, and the stroll in Xi’s secluded residential garden.
But how did Trump do as China’s guest in the eyes of the Chinese people?
He did well! Many comments on Weibo pointed to a general positive impression: Trump was respectful, friendly, diplomatic, didn’t do his fist pumps or his dance, didn’t say anything outrageous. Just a lot of praise. As a non-drinker, some pointed out, Trump even toasted at the banquet by sipping from his glass of white wine.
To the Chinese public, the America president is a character who can be interesting or comical, not very friendly, even brutal, but always an open book. They’ve had a lot of fun with Trump. During Trump’s first term, the Chinese netizens called him “Trump the China nation builder.” With his chaotic governance and his Jan 6 mob, Trump dragged down the U.S. and raised up China. Another nickname was “Comrade Trump,” as the Chinese wondered if Trump was not working under cover for the Chinese Communist Party to make China great again. And through Trump, the Chinese have learned a great deal about American democracy, and the contrast between American and Chinese leaders.
So much so that a Chinese think tank published a report suggesting that China should thank Trump for his policies.
It was on Jan. 19, 2026, the eve of the one-year anniversary of Trump’s second term, the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in Beijing issued their report titled “’Thank you’ Trump: An evaluation of the policies of the first year of Trump Administration 2.0.” The authors reasoned that Trump’s domestic and foreign policies not only served as a reverse pressure to change for China but also showed an American democracy in predicament. Therefore, Trump should be thanked for teaching China negative lessons or offering cautionary tales.
What policies and lessons the Chaoyang analysts offered to thank Trump for? Here are a few examples.
The One, Big, Beautiful Bill. Calling it a feat of deficit magic, the Chaoyang report pointed out that by combining tax cuts and expanded spending—a whopping $4.1 trillion in future borrowing for a mere 0.4 percentage-point boost in GDP in long run, the bill was a surge in deficit far outpacing economic growth. The lesson: extreme overdraft.
Reciprocal tariffs. While aiming to reshape global trade and bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., Trump’s tariffs drove up cost, fragmented supply chains, and eroded trust among nations, but made China diversify its exports and reduce dependence on U.S. The result was, the report used a Chinese proverb: a case of “inflicting eight hundred casualties on the enemy side while suffering a thousand on one’s own.” The lesson: self-entrapment.
The hard turn on immigration. In the guise of a national emergency, the report called Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration a militarized purge. The undocumented population did decline but at the cost of deepened social divisions, damaged labor market, and a collapsed U.S. international standing. The lesson: increase investment to make China a destination for international talent.
Attacks on allies. By downgrading America’s allied relationships from partnership to contracts and measuring allies through the lens of tariffs and military bills, the report pointed out, Trump eroded America’s trust, created fissures in the American-led alliance system, and gave a strategic gift to China with more space to develop its own international cooperation. The lesson: money ruins friendship.
Tech export controls. By employing export controls, expanding the Entity List, imposing investment restrictions, and suppressing talent in sectors of semiconductors and AI, Trump tried to chokehold China. It was under this hold, the report pointed out, China achieved both in capacity and innovation in its scientific and technological advancement, with the DeepSeek breakthrough as an example. The lesson: curbing someone pushes them to strengthen their autonomy.
All in all, whatever the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing would bring about in the bilateral relations between the U.S. and China, the Chinese citizens will continue to be keen Trump watchers from across the Pacific with attention, bafflement, amusement, critique, even gratitude, in humor or in seriousness.
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