In their first meeting since 2019, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump discuss tariffs and trade.
For the time being, China and the United States have come to an agreement to end their trade dispute.
Both parties have made concessions, with some of the most agonizing ones being put off for a year.
What strategies did each side employ in the conflict between the world’s two largest economies? Do they actually work? And what will the future hold: agreement or more trouble?
Presenter: Nick Clark
Guests:
Andy Mok, Senior Research Fellow at Beijing’s Center for China and Globalization, is
Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Center for China Analysis at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, DC
Survivore describe fleeing under gunfire and leaving bodies in the streets of El-Fasher, Sudan as the Rapid Support Forces forces advance there. The UN advises that North Kordofan could become a target of the violence. During the course of two years of war, millions of people have been forced to relocate, enduring hunger, assault, and siege conditions.
With a meeting in South Korea during the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit, the leaders of China and Canada have taken a step toward resolving their long-standing diplomatic ties.
Both sides on Friday met to discuss improving ties between China’s president Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and make a point of talking points.
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According to a Canadian statement, “the leaders came to terms with the significance of their meeting.”
According to Xi, relations are beginning to improve thanks to the partnership of both sides.
According to an official report released by China’s state media, “We are willing to work together with Canada to take this meeting as an opportunity to promote the return of bilateral relations to a healthy, stable, and sustainable track as soon as possible.”
According to a statement from Canada, Carney, who was appointed prime minister in March, accepted an invitation from Xi to visit China.
Later, Carney later claimed to be “very pleased” with the outcome.
He said, “We now have a turning point in the relationship, a turning point that opens up opportunities for Canadian families, Canadian businesses, and Canadian workers, and opens up a door for solutions to the current issues.”
The meeting signals a shift in tone and a resumption of diplomatic contact, according to Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. There is no evidence to suggest that the Chinese Communist Party’s actions have changed since the prime minister’s designation of China as a threat to international security, so Canada should proceed with caution.
She advised Carney to continue speaking with Chinese leaders while keeping an eye on China’s threats to Canada’s security interests, including its efforts to become more involved in Arctic affairs.
Shaky relationships
In late 2018, relations deteriorated as a result of Canadian authorities” request to extradite a senior executive from Chinese tech company Huawei. Then, in response, China detained two Canadian nationals and charged them with espionage.
Even after the two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who are both the daughters of Huawei’s founder, Meng Wanzhou, and the Chinese executive, Meng Wanzhou, whose ties didn’t significantly improve until 2021, were officially established.
More recently, Canada’s decision to levy a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum and a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles (EVs) from China in 2024 has shook relations. China retaliated by imposing its own high import taxes on canola, seafood, and pork, and has offered to do so if Canada lowers the EV tariff.
Canada and the US made the final move.
Both leaders discussed solutions for a particular product, such as EVs, canola, and seafood, and instructed their officials to act quickly to resolve trade problems and irritants, according to the Canadian statement.
Xi advocated for growing “pragmatic” cooperation in fields like energy, trade, and economy. US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on both China and Canada.
Carney’s attempt at rapprochement comes as Trump says he plans to increase tariffs on imports of Canadian goods by an additional 10% and as Carney seeks to diversify Canada’s trade away from the US. The US-Canada free trade agreement is being reviewed.
Prior to a business event on Friday, Carney claimed the rules-based liberalized trade and investment system had been overturned, adding that Canada intended to double its non-US exports over the next ten years.
However, Nadjibulla claimed that China shouldn’t be viewed as the solution to Canada’s problems with the US.
After beating off far-right candidate Geert Wilders, Dutch centrist leader Rob Jetten claimed victory in a cliffhanger election that will be decided by immigration and housing. He claimed that his victory demonstrated that populism can be defeated.
The D66 party’s leader, 38, is set to become the youngest and first openly gay prime minister of the fifth-largest economy in the European Union. The party received the most votes in this week’s general election.
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As evidenced by news agency ANP, he said on Friday, “I think we’ve shown to the rest of Europe and the world that it’s possible to defeat populist movements” and that his campaigning strategy was on track to win.
With a positive campaign and a rise in advertising spending, the pro-EU, liberal D66 tripled its seat count, while Wilders and his PVV Freedom Party lost a significant portion of the support he had received from the previous election in 2023.
D66, which currently holds 26 seats but may gain one more once every vote is counted, is expected to lead the effort to create a coalition  government, a process that typically takes months.
The party will need to find at least three coalition partners in the 150-seat lower chamber of parliament, with the center-right CDA (18 seats), the liberal VVD (22), and the left-wing Green/Labour (20) seen as candidates.
However, Green/Labour and the VVD’s collaboration is questioned. Before the election, VVD leader Dilan Yesilgoz argued that a center-right coalition “would not work” and that a coalition with Green/Labour “would not work.”
After retiring as EU Vice President, the Green/Labour group will choose a new leader on Monday.
Jetten urged the left-to-right mainstream parties to unite on Friday. He said, “We want to find a majority who will eagerly work on issues like the housing market, migration, climate, and economy.”
“Serious challenges”
Given that his party has a razor-thin lead of only thousands of votes over Wilders and his PVV Freedom Party, Jetten faced “serious challenges” as informal coalition discussions started, according to Step Vaessen, who reports from Amsterdam.
Jetten, an ardent competitor who once led Sifan Hassan’s team as a pacemaker, had previously stated that the Dutch wanted us to get to work because they were “demanding us to get to work.”
Wilders claimed Jetten was jumping the gun, pointing out that the results would only be released once the Electoral Council and not ANP, which gather the results from every Dutch municipality, had made a decision.
He wrote on X, “How haughty not to wait,” saying.
Wilders had stated that he would demand that his party have its first chance at forming a coalition if it was confirmed that it would receive the most votes, even though all major parties had already decided against doing so.
Other far-right organizations, including the nationalist party FvD, which wants to leave the EU’s Schengen system of open borders, performed well despite his demise in support.
On Monday, when mail ballots from Dutch residents who reside abroad are tallied, the results will be announced.
California’s Santa Barbara – A local volunteer, Aubrie Lugo, walked down a suburban sidewalk with a stack of flyers on a warm Saturday afternoon.
She said she felt compelled to take part in the campaign to pass a statewide measure known as Proposition 50 despite that it was her first political knock-on.
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As she perused homes full of Halloween decorations, Lugo said, “It feels like a dire situation.” We’re attempting to combat tampering with our democracy.
Proposition 50 will appear on California’s November 4 ballot, but whether it succeeds or fails will have an impact on elections after 2025.
Californians have a choice in the outcome of the congressional map, which was created to give the Democratic Party five more seats in the US House of Representatives.
The move, according to supporters, is necessary to thwart other Republican initiatives nationwide. Proposition 50 would allegedly stifle the voice of California Republicans in Congress, according to opponents.
Both parties have argued that the fight for democracy and fair representation has been framed in their campaigns.
The midterm elections in 2026, in which House of Representatives control is in jeopardy, are likely to have a significant impact on the results of Tuesday’s vote.
The chamber’s current Republican Party majority is likely to be a vote on President Trump’s second term in office.
Trump has successfully pushed for the creation of partisan maps in Republican strongholds like Texas to aid in maintaining control of the House majority.
The California ballot initiative, which was intended as a response, has already attracted national attention and drawn attention from all over the state. Trump has praised the importance of the vote while his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, praised its significance.
In a social media post in favor of the measure, Obama declared that “this vote will have crucial implications.” Not just for California, but for the entire nation as well.
A flyer [Brian Osgood/Al Jazeera] in support of Proposition 50 was displayed in Goleta, California, on October 25.
Texas as a response
In mid-August, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, asserted that Democrats could not afford to “unilaterally disarm” while Republican states pursue partisan congressional districts.
In response to what is happening in Texas, Newsom said, “We’re asking the voters for their permission to do midterm redistricting in 2026, 2028, and 2030 for the congressional maps.”
Proposition 50 was based in Texas. In June, it became apparent that the Trump administration was quietly urging southern state legislators to redraw their congressional districts in advance of the crucial midterm elections in 2026.
Each district elects its own representative for the Congress. And a few votes in the House of Representatives could help or derail a bill because the margins are so tight.
Republicans currently control only 6 of the 219 seats, compared to Democrats, who only hold 6 of them.
The Republican-controlled Texas legislature eventually approved a new congressional map drawn in part to defy Democratic voters and gain Republican seats after Democrats feared the midterm elections.
North Carolina and Missouri, two red-leaning states, have also made progress with their own initiatives.
Many people think that California’s ballot measure will determine whether Democrats will support Trump’s attempts to reform the electoral landscape, even if it means using tactics they might otherwise oppose.
All other Republican states will act similarly if the Democratic states don’t respond to what Texas did, according to Doug Allard, a 77-year-old Goleta resident who voted in favor.
The nonpartisan commission should be stopped?
However, California’s state legislature cannot simply cast a new congressional map.
Because California voters assigned that task to a nonpartisan group called the Citizens Redistricting Commission, which creates maps with a focus on proportional representation in the 2010 election.
The commission wouldn’t be eliminated by the ballot measure in November. However, it would hold off on doing anything until 2030 and switch to a different map created by the legislature.
Fewer California Republicans would be elected to Congress as a result.
According to Samuel Wang, the Princeton Gerrymandering Project director, “California had nine districts in the last election decided by a margin of less than seven points.” There will only be one district that is that close, according to our estimation if Prop 50 is passed.
The nonpartisan commission’s work would resume in five years, according to the campaign in favor of Prop 50.
California will abandon the measure if Texas abandons its partisan map, according to Newsom.
The new legislative map will have a vote on whether or not California voters will approve it, which Texas voters did not do.
These caveats are thought to be crucial in attracting California voters, who might ordinarily view gerrymandering as anti-democratic. Prior to now, California had praised the nonpartisan commission as a case study of fair redistricting.
Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio addresses attendees of a No on Prop 50 rally on October 21 in Redding, California.
A national conflict
Proposition 50 has also been used as a necessary bulwark against a Republican takeover thanks to advertising campaigns starring national figures like Obama and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Ocasio-Cortez framed the vote as a part of a “fight for democracy in all 50 states” by saying “Prop 50 leveled the playing field and gave power back to the people”.
However, opponents of the ballot measure worry that it will give local and state politicians more control over how districts are voted in order to win over more people.
Additionally, according to experts like Wang, the measure demonstrates a conflict between protecting fair representation at the local and federal levels.
If the policies you support at a national level are stacked against them, Wang said, “The argument is that it is of no use to have a fairly elected representative from your district.”
He observed that Proposition 50’s discussion often centers on issues in national politics, with Proposition 50 supporters largely in opposition to Trump’s policies.
According to Wang, “It seems to me that voters are viewing this from a national perspective.”
On October 25, Aubrie Lugo [Brian Osgood/Al Jazeera] knocks on doors in Goleta, California, to support Proposition 50.
Tit-for-tat escalation
Some critics also expressed concern about the dangers of Democrats and Republicans using tit-for-tat tactics consistently.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has long led anti-gerrymandering initiatives, is one of the most prominent voices calling on voters to reject Proposition 50.
“The United States is in a war,” the president said. Who can cheat the other person the most? During a recent TV interview, Arnold Schwarzenegger said something.
“Texas started it,” he said. They committed a terrible mistake. California suddenly says, “Well, then we have to do something terribly wrong.” Then, other states are jumped in.
Nonpartisan reforms at the national level might be a way to de-escalate the redistricting debate, Wang believes. Such reforms would prevent individual states from generating maps that favor one party or another.
According to Wang, “There is a lot of evidence that independent commissions produce fairer maps than legislatures do.”
Nonpartisan redistricting would have previously been a part of the legislation that had been introduced by Democratic lawmakers, but those efforts failed to win Republican support. In the current political climate, rising tensions could make such an effort even more unlikely.
The Trump administration announced earlier this week that it would send federal officials to California to “monitor” irregularities during the November 4 election. The announcement, according to Newsom, was intended to stifle voter intimidation and cast doubt on the results.
Trump has a long history of aggressively disseminating conspiracy theories, particularly in light of his own election-related defeat in the 2020 presidential election. That rhetoric was used to support a number of violent maneuvers to deny the election results.
Voters cited the Trump administration’s actions as their justification for voting “yes” on Prop 50, including Hank, a 77-year-old California resident who requested that his last name not be used.
Two immigrants detained in Chicago, Illinois, have filed a class-action lawsuit against senior DHS employees, alleging they received unfair treatment and denied legal counsel.
The US rights watchdog, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), released the lawsuit’s (PDF) PDF on Friday.
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Since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown earlier this year, it highlights the worsening conditions at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview.
According to Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office and lead counsel on the lawsuit, “everyone has the right to access counsel and not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions.”
“Community members are being abducted off the streets, locked up in hold cells, denied access to basic necessities, medical care, and legal rights, and forced to renounce them.”
The defendants, Felipe Agustin Zamacona and Pablo Moreno Gonzalez, have been living in the United States for more than 30 years as immigrants. Both are currently being held inside the Broadview facility.
Senior Trump officials, including ICE Director Todd Lyons and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, are named defendants in their lawsuit.
The most recent complaint alleges abuse and neglect in immigration facilities. In August, a similar class-action lawsuit was brought against the Trump administration, highlighting the detention facility in New York City’s 26 Federal Plaza.
The Broadview facility, a two-story office building that serves as ICE’s “primary processing facility” in the Chicago area, is the subject of Friday’s complaint, which zooms in on the complaint.
However, the two immigrants’ attorneys contend that the facility’s capacity to house them outweighs its own.
Nearly 5, 202 people were detained at Broadview between January and July of this year, according to the lawsuit’s ICE data. At any given time, the facility has at least 200 people inside.
Since the Trump administration launched Operation Midway Blitz on September 8, the numbers have increased. Midway Blitz, which Noem and the Department of Homeland Security spearheaded, was intended to increase immigration arrests in Chicago.
According to the class action, that push has put strain on the Broadview facility. It states that while Broadview was intended to be a “holding facility” for short-term detention, it is now being used for “warehousing people” for “days on end.”
According to the lawsuit, ICE officers allegedly held eight women for at least a day in an isolation room intended for singles.
“Broadview’s overcrowding is so extreme that people are forced to stand in cramped conditions due to the increased number of immigration arrests during Operation Midway Blitz.” Detainees are frequently unable to lie down on the floor.
Additionally, it includes cockroach and centipede infestations, overflowing toilets, and rooms with bodily fluid on the walls.
One anonymous woman is quoted as saying in the lawsuit, “We told the guards that the place was at full capacity, but they kept bringing people inside.” No one treats their pets like that, so they treated us like animals, or worse than animals.
Additionally, the lawsuit claims that detainees have been denied access to clean, safe, and adequate medical care.
The complaint claims that the conversations took place in a central location where federal officers were able to listen in, despite the fact that some detainees have been given the option to call or text their families for a brief while.
According to the lawsuit, some detainees have been denied access to outside communication completely, and access to religious institutions has been restricted for both lawyers and religious leaders.
Federal representatives are also prohibited from entering immigration facilities, according to the lawsuit, which includes members of Congress who are tasked with overseeing them.
“An attorney’s access is not a privilege.” Nate Eimer, a partner at the law firm Eimer Stahl and co-counsel in the lawsuit, said in a statement that this is a right.
“We can debate immigration policy, but it is not about denying people legal rights and keeping them inhumanely and unlawfully detained.”
The Trump administration has consistently refuted allegations of ICE facility abuse.
However, as abuse reports increase, Operation Midway Blitz has been closely watched since its launch.
Advocates accuse the aggressive immigration operation, which is frequently carried out by armed, masked agents, of demonstrating a “pattern of extreme brutality.”
