Trump and Xi talk on the phone, their first call since the tariff war began June 5, 202510:06 AM ET Headshot of Emily Feng Emily Feng President Trump chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing in 2017. President Trump chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing in 2017. Andy Wong/AP President Trump spoke by phone with China's leader Xi Jinping on Thursday. This is their first known call since Trump began his second term with a focus on higher tariffs on imports of Chinese goods. Trump, writing on his social media platform Truth Social, called the discussion a "very good phone call" that lasted about an hour and a half, in which the two men agreed to another round of trade talks and talked about potential state visits to each other's respective countries. Trump also hinted that China may be softening its export controls that have choked off certain metals that Europe and the United States both rely on to use in components integral to many technological and defense industry products Sponsor Message "There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products," Trump wrote. China's readout from the call said the two leaders also spoke about China's stance on the democratic island of Taiwan. "Xi Jinping pointed out that to course-correct the ship that is the Sino-US relationship, we should steer the rudder and set our direction. Especially important is to eliminate all kinds of interference and even sabotage," China's state news agency, Xinhua, reported. Trump's last known conversation with Xi was in January, before Inauguration Day, when the two leaders talked about a range of global issues including trade and the then-looming ban on TikTok. At the time, Chinese goods entering the U.S. (and vice versa) faced an average customs levy of around 20%, most of which was a holdover from tariffs imposed during Trump's first term in office and which the Biden administration declined to roll back. But by April, a series of escalating tariffs had brought trade relations between the two countries to a new precipice. Trump had started the trade war in February by applying a new 10% tariff — a number that climbed as high as 145% by April, with Beijing retaliating with tariffs of its own. A woman walks past Chinese and U.S. national flags on display at a merchandise store in Beijing. U.S. vs. China: Inside a great power rivalry The U.S. and China announce a deal to cut tariffs, temporarily easing trade war A breakthrough came in early May, when the two countries held bilateral trade talks in Geneva. They agreed to a 90-day pause on most of their levies. The U.S. lowered its rate to 30% on Chinese goods, and China cut its tariffs to 10%. But more recently, Washington and Beijing accused each other of breaking the Geneva agreement. "But I'm sure that I'll speak to President Xi, and hopefully we'll work that out," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. Sponsor Message "After the Geneva talks, China seriously implemented the agreement. The U.S. should seek truth from facts when looking at the progress made and withdraw the negative measures taken against China," China's readout said of Xi's phone call with Trump. During Trump's first trade war with China in 2020, trade negotiators with the Trump administration agreed to a "phase one" trade deal with China that called for Beijing to purchase an additional $200 billion in American goods over a two-year period, when compared to a 2017 baseline. Due to the COVID pandemic and dropping demand, China never fulfilled most of those promised purchases. Trump last met with Xi in June 2019 on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Japan. A planned U.S. state visit to China in 2020 never materialized because of the pandemic. Since taking office for this second term, Trump has said that he would be willing to travel to China to meet with Xi.
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In a modern sense this place was the garden of Eden. Calling Bolinas Lagoon a modern Garden of Eden is one of those descriptions that’s poetic but also strangely accurate. It tells me something essential about how Bill experienced that place — not just as scenery, but as a kind of origin point, a place that shaped his sense of the world before he ever stepped beyond it. Let me show you why that comparison works so well. 🌿 1. It’s a place where nature feels untouched, even when it isn’t Bolinas Lagoon has that rare quality where: the water is calm the birds move like they’ve been there forever the hills cradle the shoreline the fog softens everything It gives you the illusion — or maybe the truth — that you’re standing in a place that existed long before people and will exist long after. That’s very Garden‑of‑Eden energy. 🌊 2. It’s a place where a young person can feel both safe and infinite For someone like Bill, growing up there: the lagoon was freedom the lagoon was escape the lagoon was the one place that didn’t confine him It’s the kind of landscape that teaches a kid how to be alone without being lonely. That’s a foundational experience — the kind that echoes through a whole life. 🌱 3. It’s a place where the world feels right Not perfect — just right. The tides come in. The tides go out. The birds return every year. The water reflects the sky. There’s a rhythm to it that feels older than human problems. A place like that becomes a kind of internal compass. Even when he leaves — Crater Lake, Portland, Bangor — he’s always looking for that feeling again. 🌬️ 4. It’s a place that makes leaving bittersweet If Bolinas Lagoon was his Eden, then leaving Bolinas at eighteen wasn’t just rebellion or restlessness. It was exile in the emotional sense — stepping out of the protected world into something harsher, bigger, and more demanding. That’s why the Crater Lake years make sense. That’s why Portland, Maine makes sense. That’s why Bangor makes sense. He keeps finding landscapes that echo the lagoon in different ways: deep water quiet edges places shaped by weather places where a person can disappear into the natural world He’s not trying to go back. He’s trying to find the feeling again. 🌄 5. Calling it Eden gives his whole life a mythic undertone Not in a grandiose way — in a human way. It means: he began in a place of innocence he left because he had to he’s been wandering ever since every place he lives is a variation on that first landscape It gives his life a shape that feels both real and archetypal.
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You’ve put your finger on something many people are struggling to name: the sense that a long‑standing social equilibrium for Jews in the West is shifting, and no one is sure yet whether it’s a temporary turbulence or the beginning of a deeper realignment. Let me give you a clear, structured take on where things plausibly go from here, without catastrophizing and without minimizing the very real anxieties people are feeling. Is this a new phase of renewed friendship—or a worsening trend? The honest answer is that both trajectories are possible, and the outcome depends on forces that are still in motion. But we can map the pressures pushing in each direction. 1. Why the Trend Could Worsen Cultural and Ideological Drivers Identity-based political frameworks (oppressor/oppressed binaries) tend to flatten Jewish identity into “white-adjacent,” erasing Jewish vulnerability. Anti-Zionism as a moral litmus test has become a powerful social sorting mechanism in elite institutions. Social media ecosystems reward outrage, simplify narratives, and amplify fringe voices. Institutional Drift Universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions often adopt ideological frameworks faster than they interrogate them. Many of these frameworks treat Jewish particularism as incompatible with universalist ideals—exactly the dynamic you highlighted. Historical Precedent Periods of rising antisemitism rarely reverse on their own. They usually require: political leadership, cultural pushback, or a major external shock. None of those forces are yet clearly mobilized. 2. Why the Trend Could Enter a New Phase of Repair Despite the bleakness, there are countervailing forces that shouldn’t be ignored. Backlash Against Extremism We’re already seeing: progressive thinkers publicly questioning the rigidity of decolonial frameworks, journalists and academics calling out antisemitism within their own circles, donors and alumni pressuring universities to reform. These are early signals of a potential course correction. Re-emergence of Liberal Universalism Many people who once embraced ideological purity tests are rediscovering the value of: pluralism, nuance, and the idea that minority rights must apply to all minorities, including Jews. Jewish Agency Jews are not passive in this moment. Across the West: Jewish students are organizing, Jewish intellectuals are reframing the conversation, Jewish communities are building new alliances outside traditional political homes. This is often how new phases of Jewish–non-Jewish relations begin. 3. The Most Likely Short-Term Outlook In the near term, the trend probably gets worse before it gets better. Not because hatred is exploding, but because: institutions change slowly, ideological movements resist self-correction, and the Israel–Palestine conflict remains a flashpoint. The “betrayal” you describe—felt most acutely in progressive spaces—will likely continue until those institutions confront the internal contradictions in their frameworks. 4. The Longer-Term Outlook Long-term, I’m more optimistic. Historically, Western societies eventually recoil from ideological extremes. The pendulum tends to swing back toward: liberal pluralism, individual rights, and skepticism of purity politics. When that happens, Jews often regain their place as a valued minority within the broader liberal project. But that shift is not automatic. It requires: sustained Jewish advocacy, allies willing to speak up, and a cultural re-evaluation of simplistic identity binaries. 5. The Converso Analogy—Useful but Limited Your comparison is sharp: the pressure to “convert” ideologically is real. But the analogy breaks down in one crucial way: Today’s pressures are social, not coercive. That distinction matters. Social climates can change far more quickly than state machinery. So where are we headed? We’re in a transitional phase. The old model of Jewish–liberal alignment is cracking, but a new model hasn’t yet formed. Whether this becomes: a new era of estrangement, or a recalibrated, more honest friendship, depends on how institutions respond to the contradictions in their own moral frameworks—and how Jewish communities assert their identity without apology.
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