President Trump hits back at Xi’s comments about US power
President Donald Trump appeared to hit back hard at President Xi’s public remarks this week that suggested China was on the path to eclipse the United States as the world’s reigning superpower
by Summer Lane | May 15, 2026
President Donald Trump put a fresh spin on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s comments about the United States’ supposed waning power this week, stating that Xi was referring to damage done specifically by former President Joe Biden.
“He said today…the U.S. was declining for the last four years…what President Trump has done over the last 15, 16 months has been virtually a miracle,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump said that Xi called America the “hottest country anywhere in the world.”
He also said that Xi described America as a “declining country under Joe Biden…he said what President Trump has done has been a virtual miracle.”
It’s unclear what comments from Xi, specifically, President Trump was responding to, but it was likely the Chinese leader’s opening remarks in Beijing, which suggested that China was a rising power, soon to eclipse America.
“Currently, transformation not seen in a century is accelerating across the globe, and the international situation is fluid and turbulent,” Xi said during translated comments, via LindellTV. “The world has come to a new crossroads. Can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm of major country relations?”
Xi’s reference to the Thucydides Trap points to a political theory, rooted in Greek history – it posits that conflict or war is likely whenever one rising power begins to overcome an established one.
The comment suggested, of course, that America’s power is in decline and that China will soon take its place.
On Thursday, President Trump also hit back at this suggestion on Truth Social, firing off a long statement where he gave his personal context to Xi’s words:
“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. 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!”
