Trump says US has reset relationship with China

US President Donald Trump said Washington had reset relations with China through trade pressure, military expansion and energy dominance. He claimed the US economy remained strong while administration officials highlighted rising defence investment, recruitment growth and broader Indo-Pacific strategic competition

Washington: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States had reset its relationship with China and strengthened its position in the Indo-Pacific through military expansion, trade pressure, and renewed energy dominance.

Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump said his recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping had gone “amazingly” and claimed Beijing now viewed Washington differently than during previous administrations.

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“The relationship is very good,” Trump said. “We’re doing a lot of business with China now, but it’s not where they were ripping us off for years and years.”

Trump argued that his administration’s tariffs and economic policies had forced China to adopt what he described as a more balanced trading relationship with the United States.

“It’s now a very profitable business that we do with China, and they respect our country again,” he said.

The President linked that economic strategy to broader US military and geopolitical efforts across the Indo-Pacific and beyond. He repeatedly highlighted expanded defence spending and military modernisation as central to restoring American influence globally.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the administration was investing heavily in new military systems, including drones, missile defence, and advanced aircraft production.

“We’re going to lead the world in drones,” Hegseth said, while praising Trump’s commitment to a proposed $1.5 trillion defence budget.

Hegseth said the Pentagon was seeing “historic recruitment rates” for the second straight year and added that private defence manufacturers were investing billions of dollars in new production facilities because of administration policies.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US economy remained “strong, secure and resilient” despite global tensions involving Iran and energy markets.

Bessent said business investment had risen sharply during Trump’s second term and pointed to increased factory construction, manufacturing jobs, and growth in capital expenditures.

“The stock market lives in the future,” Bessent said. “It is seeing on the other side of this conflict.”

Trump also highlighted what he called America’s “energy dominance strategy”, arguing that expanded oil and gas production had strengthened the US position in global geopolitics. He claimed the United States was now producing more oil than “Russia and Saudi Arabia combined”.

Several officials linked the administration’s economic and defence policies to broader strategic competition with China and other major powers, although China was mentioned only briefly during the Cabinet session.