Xi and Trump meet as China pushes a new multilateral order

President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House for talks with President Donald Trump underscores a shift toward a fragmented, multipolar world order. Beijing is expanding its reach by creating new institutions, offering development finance, and exporting technology standards, especially in AI and cloud computing, to developing nations. While the United States retains its core alliances, institutions and technological edge, its current political turbulence and skeptical stance on international law have opened space for Chinese alternatives.

Xi’s recent trips to Bishkek, Cairo and New Delhi illustrate a pattern of linking China to networks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the expanding BRICS bloc. China’s development model, centered on infrastructure projects and state-backed investment, aims to give countries a path to prosperity that does not follow the traditional Western playbook. The ultimate test will be whether these economic ties translate into lasting geopolitical influence without forcing countries to adopt Beijing’s political system.