Inside look at Trump-Xi summits with ex-diplomat William Klein

William Klein, who served as a US diplomat for more than twenty years with significant postings in Beijing during the critical 2016-2021 period, offers a rare insider's account of the diplomatic mechanics behind the Trump-Xi summits. His tenure at the US embassy in China coincided with a period of escalating trade tensions and strategic competition, giving him a front-row seat to the negotiations and personal dynamics between the two leaders. Klein's analysis is particularly valuable given his subsequent role at the American Institute in Taiwan and on the State Department's China desk, positions that required navigating the most sensitive aspects of the bilateral relationship.

Now a consulting partner with FGS Global in Berlin, Klein applies his diplomatic expertise to advise on US-China and EU-China relationships, making his retrospective on these summits both historically informed and practically relevant. His insights extend beyond the Washington-Beijing axis, informed by diplomatic postings in South Asia, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union, which provide comparative perspective on great power diplomacy. The analysis promises to reveal how personality, protocol, and policy intersected during some of the most consequential meetings in recent US-China relations, with implications for understanding current geopolitical tensions.