An Ignoble Experiment: Is Xi's US trip at risk?

Is Trump’s Xi meeting at risk as US and China throw up tit-for-tat sanctions?

By Simone McCarthy

Alex Wong/Getty Images

The road to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the United States next month is shaping up to be rockier than Beijing would have hoped.

Weeks ahead of the state visit, the world’s two largest economies have revived a tit-for-tat exchange of sanctions, with Beijing unveiling multiple measures against US firms or interests in what it said was retaliation for “erroneous” American moves.

The US has banned imports of new humanoid robots (largely produced in China); sanctioned Chinese shipping operators alleged to be handling Iranian fuel; placed more than 40 Chinese firms on an entity list for alleged human rights violations; and added two top civilian universities to a Pentagon blacklist. It’s also threatened to sanction Chinese AI firms.

That left Beijing with “no choice but to take necessary countermeasures,” its Commerce Ministry said last Wednesday as it unveiled a package that sanctioned seven US firms; upped controls on the export of drones and their tech to the US; and launched an investigation into certain office equipment running foreign software.

A separate measure also suspends a fast track for US factories to certify goods like electrical appliances for the Chinese market. The ministry said it was specifically retaliating against the recent US entity listing of Chinese firms, as well as the robotics and previous tech-related bans issued by the US Federal Communications Commission.

The tit-for-tat brings up echoes of last year, when the rivals were locked in a blistering trade war. It also raises the question of whether a new period of escalation – if it spirals further – could push Beijing to put Xi’s upcoming trip on ice.

Jigme Dorje/Xinhua/Getty Images

Yak to the future

On the high-altitude plains of Tibet, ringed by snowy mountains and buffeted by harsh winds, scientists are hard at work creating horned, fluffy clones.

These are Tibetan yaks, designed and cloned in secretive labs more than 4,000 meters above sea level, where researchers hope to create an “elite” herd of super-yaks, healthier and more fertile than their predecessors.

This project, scientists hope, could even potentially revive a wild species revered by local Tibetans as a favorite of the land god.

The long-haired Himalayan cattle are a critical part of the region’s economy and culture. But both domestic yaks and their wild cousins have been facing threats for years, with some rare subspecies at risk of disappearing entirely.

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese region have poured tens of millions of dollars into boosting the yak industry in recent years – and they hope cloning can help.

But the project has also raised concerns among international observers as cloning remains highly controversial.

Latest on China

The Trump administration is racing to get a handle on the AI industry, but its latest plan will leave a model embraced by mostly Chinese tech firms unchecked – at least for now. A new regulation framework floated by the administration covers only the most powerful “closed” models, like Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, people familiar with the matter told CNN. Open models released by many of their Chinese counterparts will be excluded, leaving a fast-growing slice of the market unmonitored.

China is doubling down on a push to bring humanoid robots into factories at scale. CNN’s Mike Valerio visited the underground lab of robotics company Galbot in Beijing and met robots that can lift up to 50 kilograms – with visibly less effort than he does.

A rocket intended to launch a satellite into orbit blew up seconds after lift-off earlier this week, in a relatively rare failure for a vessel considered a workhorse of Beijing’s space program.

Typhoon Dolphin ripped through eastern China earlier this week, bringing torrential rain that drenched the coastal region and flooded streets in Shanghai. More than 900 flights were canceled at the city’s two airports, and a 9-year-old was swept into the sea in Zhejiang.

Meanwhile, burger chain Five Guys opened its first store in Beijing, part of a growing trend of US fast food companies returning to the country after a previous downsizing and pullout.