Trump’s disappearing China hawks

As the world’s two most powerful leaders prepare to meet, the usual chorus of Republican warnings about the perils of dealing with Beijing has disappeared.

The silence is a culmination of President Donald Trump’s stifling of GOP orthodoxy on China, which has washed away years of hawkish policy on everything from tech to defense.

He has green-lighted the sale of advanced AI chips to Beijing, even as Congress warned about espionage risks. He signed off on a deal to allow Chinese-founded TikTok to continue operating in the U.S., despite intelligence concerns. And his National Defense Strategy abandoned tough rhetoric on China for a more conciliatory tone as the administration focuses on protecting the homeland.

Now, as the president begins a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping — accompanied by tech executives, family members and Cabinet officials — Trump aims to make new deals on tech, trade and possibly even Taiwan. But senior Republicans inside the administration and on Capitol Hill have gone quiet, bowing to Trump’s vision for closer cooperation between once fierce rivals.

“Donald Trump is the key dove,” said Dan Blumenthal, a former Defense Department official under George. W. Bush and U.S.-China Economic and Security Review commissioner. “He wants stability. He’s just very impressed with Chinese power and doesn’t believe that we’re in any position at the moment to win a strategic competition.”

The shift from Trump’s first administration has been significant. The president, ahead of Wednesday’s summit, told reportershe would speak with Xi about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. That would repudiate longstanding American policy that has held across seven previous administrations — including the first Trump term — that the U.S. does not consult with Beijing on weapons transfers to Taipei.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang hitched a last-second ride on Trump’s plane to Beijing, just months after the U.S. approved the company’s sales of H200 artificial intelligence chips to China. The move, lawmakers worry, could dent America’s lead in the AI race.

Within the White House, voices that would have argued against those changes are gone.

China hawks in Trump’s previous administration — from former national security adviser H.R. McMaster to John Bolton and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo — all had a seat at the table. They’ve been replaced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and White House AI adviser David Sacks, who have been quick to accommodate Trump’s newfound desire for deals with Beijing above all else. Sacks in particular has lobbied against bipartisan legislation pushing for tighter export controls on semiconductors.

The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.

Still, there is a recognition within the upper echelons at the Pentagon that China remains the largest military threat facing the nation.

“It is a pacing threat, precisely that,” said Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s top research and engineering official, at POLITICO’s Global Security summit, using a defense term that describes how an opponent — in this case China — helps set the pace for American strategy and weapons development.

Michael, along with other Trump administration officials, has pressed for ways to counter Beijing, including efforts to reduce dependency on China’s supply of rare earths and drone technologies by backing American startups in those industries.

And some lawmakers still remain wary of Trump’s moves.

The president's decision to approve sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, which was made a month following his last meeting with Xi in South Korea, was swiftly countered by a broad bipartisan push on Capitol Hill to limit exports of more advanced AI chips and expand congressional power over them. Several bills have advanced to the floor, but none has passed. Administration officials have since said none of those chips has actually been sold.

And since Trump’s first term, China has constructed seven major artificial islands in the South China Sea, built the world’s largest Navy and established an arsenal of long-range missiles.

“China was a main feature of the foreign policy of the first [Trump] administration,” said Ely Ratner, who led the Indo-Pacific Security Affairs office in the Pentagon under the Biden administration. “But the views within the administration are much more varied all around [in Trump’s second term]. All of this comes together to create this softer policy we see now, philosophically this group appears geared toward a more accommodationist approach to China.”

Many of the GOP’s China hawks appear to be standing behind Trump, despite previous concerns.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who has been involved in bipartisan efforts to crack down on China’s access to advanced chips, said Wednesday he backed exporting some U.S. tech to Beijing.

“If you can get into China and allow them some so that they're using ours rather than creating their own, that gives us a technological advantage, even though they may be able to continue months behind us,” Rounds said in an interview.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who was part of a recent delegation visit to China, said he was “thrilled” that Huang would be in attendance. The CEO is “one of the greatest thought leaders” when it comes to chips, he said. “Jensen needs to be at the table.”

But when Trump sits down with Xi, it may not matter who has counseled him.

“The policy process is different with President Trump feeling much more confident, less willing to listen to his advisers,” said Blumenthal, the former Bush administration official. “There’s less input, and everybody who’s serving him knows that he’s going to make the decisions, particularly on China.”

Gabby Miller contributed to this report.