Xi Insulted Trump With Just Two Words. Trump Was Forced To Respond

Thucydides trap.

Chinese President Xi Jinping used these two words in a speech delivered Thursday at the high-stakes summit with President Donald Trump and a delegation of cabinet members, as well as top American CEOs.

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In his opening remarks, Xi referenced the Peloponnesian War in Ancient Greece, a long war between Athens and Sparta that began in 431 B.C.

“Can China and the United States overcome the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and create a new paradigm of major-power relations?” he said.

Named after the Greek historian Thucydides, the Thucydides Trap is a theory that when a declining state power is faced with a rising one, war becomes almost “inevitable.” (RELATED: Chinese Supertanker Glides Through Hormuz Blockade As White House Touts ‘Good’ Talks In Beijing)

US President Donald Trump talks with China’s President Xi Jinping (L) as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd-R) and China’s Premier Li Qiang (R) look on during a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)

“It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable,” Thucydides observed.

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So, Xi pretty much said to Trump and the rest of the world: “We are the ascending power about to overtake you. Let’s make sure you don’t have a temper tantrum and start World War III because your global dominance has waned.”

Interestingly enough, Trump and the White House thought it required an official response. But unsurprisingly, they said Xi was referring to the Biden Administration.

“When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday. “Our Country suffered immeasurably with open borders, high taxes, transgender for everybody, men in women’s sports, DEI, horrible trade deals, rampant crime, and so much more!”

He went on:

President Xi was not referring to the incredible rise that the United States has displayed to the world during the 16 spectacular months of the Trump Administration, which includes all-time high stock markets and 401K’s, military victory and thriving relationship in Venezuela, the military decimation of Iran (to be continued!) — Strongest military on earth by far, economic powerhouse again, with a record 18 trillion dollars being invested into the United States by others, best U.S. job market in history, with more people working in the United States right now than ever before, ending country destroying DEI, and so many other things that it would be impossible to readily list.

“In fact,” Trump added, “President Xi congratulated me on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time.”

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