Morning Joe - Trump Attends Banquet With China’s Xi Jinping

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

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Such respect for China, the job you've done. You're a great leader. I say it to everybody. You're a great leader. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true. I only say the truth. There are those that say this is maybe the biggest summit ever. They can never remember anything like it.

I can say in the United States, people aren't talking about anything else. But it's an honor to be with you. It's an honor to be your friend and the relationship between China and the USA. is going to be better than ever before. President Trump praising Xi Jinping ahead of their bilateral talks last night in Beijing. Will flattery get him what he wants

out of the Chinese leader. And what exactly are the goals? We're going to talk about that. Right now, you're looking at the live pictures, camera moving around of the president's guest that he's brought with him to Beijing and getting together at the banquet that is about to begin.

We're going to be covering remarks as they come live. following every angle of this summit. Welcome to Morning Joe. It's Thursday, May 14th. With us, we have President Emeritus of the Council on Formulations. Richard Haas, former Treasury official and Morning Joe economic analyst. Steve Ratner is here.

columnist, an associate editor of the Washington Post, David Ignatius, and co-host of The Weekend and a Washington reporter for MS Now, Jackie Alamini, is with us. And as I said, President Trump's two. Summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping is underway in Beijing. The two world leaders sat down for a high-stakes bilateral meeting overnight. Both presidents projected a positive relationship between the countries, with Trump telling Xi, it's an honor to be your friend. You and I have known each other now for a long time. In fact, the longest relationship of our two countries that any president and president, has had. And that's to me an honor. We've had a fantastic relationship. We've gotten along when

there were difficulties. We worked it out. I would call you and you would call me. And whenever we had a problem, people don't know. Whenever we had a problem, we worked out very quickly. We're going to have a fantastic future together. Such respect for China, the job you've done. You're a great leader. I say it to everybody. You're a great leader. Sometimes people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true. But it's an honor to be with you. It's an honor to be your friend and the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before. She merited the president's positive tone in his remarks, at least publicly, saying in part, China and the United States both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. We should be

partners, not rivals. As doors closed for negotiations, however, the tone of China's leader reportedly shifted with Xi Jinping offering a stern warning about the U.S. relationship with Taiwan. In a readout posted online, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Taiwan is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations. And if it is not handled, quote, properly, it would lead to clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy. The White House also has a list of requests from this trip. The president is expected to push for U.S. priorities like China's assistance in pressuring its strategic ally Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump brought a large group of U.S. business leaders who have been lobbying for measures that would further open the Chinese market. Among them is Chip Leader Invidia CEO Jensen Huang. Both he and Elon Musk praised the first day's meeting and Willie. The question here is, especially given what Xi Jinping said, are the goals aligned and what is going on around these meetings? Yeah, especially in Taiwan, pretty extraordinary. Those reports from inside the room, Richard Haas.

Obviously, there's a lot to dig into. Let's start with the president's remarks there at the top. You want to project a friendly tone, obviously, right? We're at a summit meeting. We would mark the contrast in the tone he takes with our allies, with European leaders, for example, in public. But let's talk about Taiwan, which is we're getting these reports, as you predicted yesterday, that behind closed doors,

President Xi is saying, back off your support for Taiwan, stop the weapons and the arms support that you begin, or at least curtail that a little bit. Or else, he said there will be clashes and condesies, and conflicts, how should a United States president respond to that? Well, look, for Xi Jinping, Taiwan is his legacy. So what he put on the table has the advantage of being true. This is his priority, not just for the summit, but for his entire tenure as president of China.

He's in his third term. My guess is health permitting. He'll have a fourth term, and who knows what, beyond that. He wants to accomplish a major change in Taiwan status. He put it on the table, literally and figuratively. My guess is, Willie, that he wants to take Donald Trump's pulse. He wants to explore exactly how deep is Donald Trump's commitment to Taiwan. There's a question of arms.

There's rhetorical issues. Do we, you know, we've historically not supported Taiwan's independence. Can he get us to say now we oppose Taiwan's independence? What he's trying to do is raise questions in Taiwan's mind and Japan's mind and everybody else about this strength of the American defense of Taiwan. And what he's hoping, therefore, it undermines confidence in Taiwan, and it allows the mainland to gain greater control over it. So he's putting it on the table. And I think for the Chinese, the single biggest priority of the summit is to get a better sense of given Iran, given everything else, what is Donald Trump prepared to do about Taiwan? That's what they want to come away.

Connecting stories we've been talking about for more than four years now, the war in Ukraine. I think you and others have said, you know who's watching the war in Ukraine closely? China. How will the United States respond? on how directly and heavily will it favor Ukraine and support Ukraine in the war? The answer is not very much. What does China see in Ukraine that it may be using as leverage today? Well, what they like about Ukraine is the United States never got involved directly militarily.

Even under the Biden, we help Ukraine, but we never put troops on the ground. The biggest reason I would argue for the Chinese nuclear buildup, China right now, people don't pay attention to it, is the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world. They're thinking, if they can have to be. a really big nuclear arsenal willy on the scale of, say, what Russia has, then the United States approach to Taiwan might parallel our approach to Ukraine. We won't get directly involved. They've been helping Ukraine in lots of ways with technology and so forth. The only thing is, recently, Russia is not winning in Ukraine. Right. So I actually think Ukraine's a mixing for China.

And what it also shows, if you're Xi Jinping and you go to bed at night, you think about, hey, Vladimir Putin was so confident his military would perform well in the military. Ukraine, not so much. I mean, while Xi Jinping's been purging generals left and right. So the question is, how confident is he that this unbattle tested military, which hasn't gone to war since the late 70s against Vietnam, how confident is he if he were to go to war? So I think actually the fact that Russia's had real problems in Ukraine militarily might be a little bit sobering for him. So there's lots of conflicting things, but still the priority for him is Taiwan first, second, third. That's what really matters here. And again, I don't know if he's looking

for a breakthrough, but he clearly wants to get a better sense of what he can expect. And that'll be the most important exchange of the summit. Well, that, okay, so David Ignatius, just back to the stern warning that the Chinese have given to President Trump, that the leader has, saying Taiwan is the most important issue in China-U-S relations. I mean, China seems to have put the cards on the table. I wonder what the consequences of that would be if you could explain that. And then ultimately, how can China help with the Strait of Hormuz? Is that the ultimate exchange here? So she has definitely put his marker down on the table by raising Taiwan forcefully in the first direct meeting of the summit saying that mishandling of it could lead to an extremely dangerous

situation. That's strong rhetoric for superpowers. But it's not likely that by the end of this summit, we'll see any change in the status quo. Again, he's put down the marker, he's signaled the United States, he's trying to frame future discussions of Taiwan. Let's remember that there's likely to be a second summit this year, probably in the U.S., between these two. So maybe he's hoping to kind of do a little salami tactics, as we say, a little bit each time. But I'd be surprised if there are any major changes in U.S. policy statements. To me, more, the summit really announces Xi's achievement of one Chinese dream, which is to see parity between these two countries, the pomp, the power of the welcome that was given to President Trump as he or

arrived last night, the extraordinary Trumpian flattery, the greatest summit ever. You're a great leader. I mean, what could the Chinese leader like to hear more than that? If there's any person in the world who likes to be flattered more than Donald Trump, it's probably Xi Jinping, and he got a lot of that flattery. But he also got a display that these are the two countries in the world that matter. So we sometimes say this is the G2. So I think that's another important summit. The final thing, I'd say is that Trump brought along with him an array of the people who symbolize where America really is still very strong. We're having our difficulties in Iran, winning that war, all kinds of other troubles that we talk about on the show every day. But to have Elon Musk, Tim Cook,

Jensen Huang, the chipmaker, all arriving with the president, the people who truly dominate these technologies that China hopes to become a key player. And I thought that was a sensible thing for President Trump to do. They seem to be all smiles after today's meetings, wonderful gushing about all the good things that had happened. So I think that's another bottom line for the summit. The United States is still very strong economically, and China would like to still be in the slipstream of American economic power

for as long as it can. Yeah, Steve Rattner, just looking at the live images of this state banquet at the Great Hall of the people in Beijing. We saw familiar faces. Elon Musk is there. Tim Cook is there as we wait for President Trump and Xi to enter the hall there. But also leaders of Black Rock and Goldman and City. I mean, it crosses American industry.

What is the goal of those leaders here? Is it simply to push to open the Chinese markets to their business? of the business leaders? Yeah. They're there because they want to sell stuff to China. And I think Trump has recognized that some of the non-economic issues that are on the table that Richard and David were just talking about are not going to get resolved. And so I think if he wants a takeaway from this meeting, a lot of it could be on the commercial side. It's interesting that on the chip side, on the NVIDIA side, you know, the president did

authorize the sale of what I call the H-200 chips to China and he extracted attacks for the U.S. He always has to have a little something for a green anything, but the Chinese haven't been buying them. The Chinese have been deciding, you know, our ships aren't so bad, and we have power, which is an important thing that we have less of, and so they haven't been buying much. They will probably be a big sale of Boeing planes because the Chinese don't know how to make yet commercial airliners. They're close to developing one, but it will not be a Boeing plane. So they'll probably sell some planes.

But then remember also that in the past, in Trump 1.0, there were all. all kinds of deals around things like soybeans that the Chinese never lived up to. The Chinese are not like really big on living up to agreements unless it's in their interest. But if I could go back to Taiwan for just one second because just to I say at least me the obvious, but Richard and David may or may not agree, you know, Taiwan is all about chips. And the whole reason why I think we care about Taiwan is because of the chips. And they produce 92%. Sorry, Steve.

Here comes President Trump and President Xi entering the hall. Okay. Go ahead. We produce, Taiwan produces 92% of the world's high-end chips. And so it becomes pretty existential for the world and for us to have anything happen to that chip supply. You know, Taiwan really is the Saudi Arabia of the 2026 euro. Let me say one thing about that, though, is the U.S. commitment to Taiwan predated chips. Taiwan is the unfinished business of the Chinese Civil War,

which is why it's so important to the Chinese and to Xi Jinping. for us, even though Taiwan is not quote-unquote an independent country, we have commitments to it under the Taiwan Relations Act. Our relationship with Japan and other countries in many ways is premised on the idea that the United States will stand there on behalf of Taiwan. So what's stake is, yes, chips in their own economy, but also America's entire strategic position in Asia and the so-called Indo-Pacific is premised on the idea that Taiwan will not be taken over coercibly by the mainland. So it's important beyond ships, if you will. Yeah, I mean, that's a really good point. And so do you think that if the Chinese were to do something militarily against Taiwan,

we would defend it? Well, historically, we've had a policy of what's called ambiguity. The answer is the Chinese couldn't assume we wouldn't. Taiwan couldn't assume we would. Under previous presidents, I think the odds were greater. I think that we would. I think now the doubt is greater. And the fact that so many capabilities have moved towards the Middle East, it's interesting. The Chinese blogs now are speculating that we are either unwilling or unable to help Taiwan. So I think we've put that, we've cast doubt about our willingness or ability to come to Taiwan's aid, which again, I think is one of the reasons the Chinese want this on the agenda. Again, they're trying to get a better reading of what we're prepared to do. Well, we've cast doubt, but now chips

are important. Just one second because I believe there's going to be some remarks as this event begins, and it'll start with the leader of China, Xi Jinping. He is taking to the stage. Speaking first, President Trump is expected to make remarks as well. Everybody is seated, seated including President's family members, members of his cabinet, and business leaders on this U.S. trip to China. Let's listen in now to President Xi Jinping. Thank you. Ladies and, gentlemen,

I'm very President to take government to join court

event. First, I represent the people and people and

to Trump and President and American and American

welcome. Honorable President Donald J. Trump Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to host the state banquet in honor of President Trump during his state visit to China. On behalf of the Chinese government and people, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to President Trump and the U.S. delegation. This is a history-sing visit.

America further and make to make sure the people

are the people, we're people, to create our and

our our world and can be being unbey

and unco self for the world this is

a historic visit this year marks the start of China's

15th five year plan for economic and social development. The over 1.4 billion people of China drawing on the rich heritage of our over 5,000

years civilization are advancing Chinese modernization on all fronts through high-quality development. This year is also the 250th anniversary of American independence. The over 300 million and American people are reinvigorating the spirit of patriotism, innovation, and enterprise, and ushering in a new journey for the development of the United States. The people of China and the United States are both great peoples. Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again, can go hand in hand. We can help each other succeed and advance the well-being of the whole world.

Fifty-five years, Nekekhezong President-Pet Kishinger World's Fong-Wah. The United States World War,

both-Fung people, and the public-in- two-year the door and become

the time the time world-to- war-stice history on. This after,

years ago, President Richard Nixon sent Dr. Henry Kissinger to visit China, and ping-pong diplomacy was carried out between our two countries. Through efforts of the two governments and peoples, the door that had remained frozen for over 20 years was opened, marking a milestone in contemporary international relations. From then on, China and the United States have written many chapters of friendship through mutual openness and cooperation. Under the new situation, President Trump and I, fully aware of the expectations of our two nations and the international community, have had multiple meetings and phone calls and kept China-U.S. relations generally stable.

to implement the state-Meyensual-Wending policy, to promote the United and healthy, can continue for the world

to bring more and more and improve. Today, President Trump and I had in-depth

exchanges on China-U.S. relations and international and regional dynamics. We both believe that the China-U.S. relationship is the

most important bilateral relationship in the world. We must make it work and never mess it up. Both China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. Our two countries should be partners rather than rivals. President Trump and I also agreed to build a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability, to promote the steady, sound and sustainable. development of China-U.S. relations and bring more peace, prosperity, and progress to the world. Thank you, Trump, Mr. President, you know, ministers, and friends,

among the long-to-Mewan future, can not do not do to support, and help-do, and work-to-con-he, and to support, is the foreign is the point of

the point of the current dis, the between the two

two people and the people and the people and

the we're we're we need the General Honorable President Donald J. Trump, ladies and gentlemen, friends,

looking back at the course of China-U.S. relations, whether or not we could have mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and wing-win cooperation is the key to whether the relationship can advance steadily. The world today is changing and turbulent. China-U.S. relations concern the well-being of the over 1.7 billion people of both countries and affect the interests of the over

8 billion people of the world. Both sides should rise up to this historic responsibility and steer the giant ship of China-U.S. relations forward, steadily and in the right direction. For the United States' and the good-of-Nemian people's and for the United States, for Trump's and here all the people,

Gampé. Now please join me in a toast. To the development and prosperity of China and the United States and the well-being of our people, to the bright future of China-U.S. relations and the friendship between the two peoples. And to the health of President Trump

and all the friends' people. Present. Cheers. Gamba. Cheers. Cheers. President Xi Jinping, making the initial remarks at the banquet, the summit between the two leaders, President Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump, talking about the U.S. China relationship and how we can help each other succeed, to quote him. Today, Trump and I had in-depth conversations.

And he talked about the U.S.-China relationship, the most important bilateral relationship in the world. The question will be, what will both sides gain from developing this relationship and what could the potential consequences be? President Trump now is headed to the stage to make his remarks after a brief toast to the relationship. And here now is President Trump in China. Well, thank you very much.

This is a great honor. It was a fantastic day. And in particular, I want to thank President Xi, my friend, for this magnificent welcome. And it really was a magnificent welcome like none other. And for so graciously hosting us on this very historic state visit. We had an extremely positive and productive conversations and meetings today with the Chinese delegation earlier. And this evening is another cherished opportunity to discuss. among friends, some of the things that we discussed today,

all good for the United States and for China. And it was a great honor to be with you, please. Thank you, thank you, Xi Jinping, today we've done over a very much day. First, to thank Xi Jinping's chiefs'eming to say this great welcome. So, also, also very thank in this this history-sing of the world's forum,

in the very kind-keye to get-de-lawed my representative. So, today, we're going with the front-of-economic, and with a good-established and to-the-day-wide, that today-want will be our

another chance can't be able again again some time we've already talked about the issues, and our own the good-reliy,

and how we can make human human-so-so-go more, more-an-can- the relationship between the American and Chinese people

goes all the way back to America's founding. The first American consul to China, Samuel Shaw arrived on the first American trading ship to reach these shores in 1784. The Chinese merchants had a name for the Americans. They called their visions the new people. Two and a half centuries later, that first connection is grown into one of the most consequential relationships in world history. 250 years ago,

today, this was a time-to-do-the-your-e already began to become the present the current the most great-jue-chim-jong

of the one. From the beginning, our citizens have shared a deep sense of mutual respect. Founding Father,

Benjamin Franklin, published the sayings of Confucius in his colonial newspaper, and today's sculpture,

recognizing that ancient Chinese sage is carved into the face of the United States Supreme Court very proudly. From the first, we're two countries, we're in the second-home-to-sexual

of social. American's good-of-Nevon-German Fuland-Klein had in his human newspaper in front of his own kand-downe and today, in the United at the U.S. at the top-Fa-Gentzsche

building-wood-in-in-one, can say, there a deal-kker, this Diochukkah just for the country

to the people to the nation the appreciation ran in

both directions Chinese admirers of President George Washington

gifted a stone tablet honoring his memory to adorn the

Washington monument it bears the words of a Chinese official who

called the great general and states a hero among men This

This is a show is a whole So many Many people Many people Very much So these people

Those people They were To give a American Gowne Just for the Fordney Washington

Today, This day In fact In fact in Washington President Roosevelt

Who provided the funds to establish President Xi's alma Mata

Jing Wah University In the over the years In fact of

the China, and instillue, and yet in the modern and yet

in the current Chinese President, the Rosufu President also

made to make the city and the chief chief

Chinese World War II. As allies in World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt's mentions

of the brave people of China, that's what they were, grew loud cheers

and his speeches in the United States and everybody loved what he had to say, just as many Chinese now love basketball and blue jeans, Chinese restaurants. In America today, outnumber the five largest fast food chains in the United States all combined. That's a pretty big statement. As a two-war time of the Mung-Kor, L'Sufu's president, in the American's many other times in the talk in the young

people, just as much many people very people very like to and in blue white white in the American

in the food's the number of the market the same main store

end of this bond of commerce and respect that stretches back 250 years is the foundation

for a future that benefits both of our nations The American and Chinese people share much in common. We value hard work. We value courage and achievement. We love our families and we love our countries.

Together we have the chance to draw on these values to create a future of greater prosperity, cooperation, and happiness and peace for our children. We love our children. This region and the world is a special world with the two of us, united and together. So as a business The new and our and our

people are we say to do you know is we're going to build the way

the future and the future will will will meet our

people and people and there many many we

we're on long we we we're on our

our our our our our our our our

our our we to give to our community to our common to create a more

far as a grander to work and to work and for our life for our

our our our country and our world thank you again

President Xi for this beautiful welcome and tonight it is my honor to

extend an invitation to you and Madam Peng to visit us at the White House

this September 24th and we look forward to it and I'd now like to raise it last and propose a toast to the rich and enduring ties between the American and Chinese people. It's a very special

relationship and I want to thank you again. This has been an amazing period of time. Thank you, President Xi. Then again, again again to say myheousandt, then today tonight, I also this opportunity to

to you and Pung to ask you to get out on 9th 24 to invite

you to find the that I also I'm um to

um to the American and between and the and I

take you we take we need we we need we we take we

so we we're we this two particular of your relationship. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. That was President Trump, largely sticking to a script in his remarks, focusing on the history of the relationship between the U.S. and China, reaffirming the remarks from the Chinese leader, who went first, his host, talking about how this is the most consequential relationship in history, and how mutual respect between the two countries could lead to lots of opportunities,

a win-win cooperation, peaceful coexistence. And the president's talk largely focused on the history of the relationship between the people of both countries, saying that history marks the possibility for many future partnerships on many levels. And experts here on the set, and I assume David Ignatius in Washington, and noting a lot of normality in this speech. And I don't say that at all with any humor. I just say Donald Trump usually riffs. He usually goes off on a tangent and goes with his gut.

But I wonder what you make of these remarks. And if you notice that as well. Well, this was banquet talk. These were very formal, scripted speeches by both. And they symbolized what the summit is about. It's about these two, as they see themselves and are seen by the world, two great leaders getting together and saying nice things about each other's countries. I thought there was one point of significance, I want to note. In President She's remarks, he used again, it's the third time I've heard him say it surrounding this visit, the phrase,

the great ship of U.S.-China relations. It's a new formulation of what the Chinese have been talking about for some years now, a half dozen years, a new era, a new form of great power relations was the earlier version. And basically, it's an attempt to describe parity between these two superpowers, something the Chinese have dreamed of achieving and a different relationship that's less confrontation. where the Chinese get to set their own guardrails more than before. It's not the U.S. trying to set those lines. So I thought that she enunciated that pretty clearly.

I thought Trump came back with his own version of that description of the kind of equanimity between these two great powers. His phrase was, it's a special world of the two of us united together. So I think that's bland talk, but I think that's probably going to be the main takeaway that these two leaders have decided on a kind of co-management understanding. We'll pick up the phone and call each other, as she said, echoing what President Trump said earlier. The contentious issues like Taiwan, you weren't going to hear about those at a banquet, and we didn't. And it doesn't mean that they're not still there. That was what we just saw was a very scripted description of the relationship that she wants to see and that Trump seems willing to embrace as well.

Yeah, Richard, President Xi, knowing his customer well, invoked the phrase, make America great again. We noted that. And again, the history lesson, President Xi talking about ping pong diplomacy, taking us back to 1971 and Richard Nixon. And President Trump, obviously a magnificent welcome like none other. He talked about the cherished opportunity to be here, all things you would expect to hear at a banquet like this. And then his walking through his own history lesson of the relationship, notably, effectively announcing a meeting in September 24th at the White House during UN week, the President Xi will come to the United States. We assume that that's already been locked in. What was your takeaway, though?

I mean, Mika correctly notes, it was a conventional presidential speech at a diplomatic event, which is notable for this president. Exactly. Also, that when President Trump talked about it, it was much less in personal terms. My personal relationship, it was much more country to country, grounded in history. So in that sense, what the two leaders said was actually quite symmetrical. So I took this as good. I'm sitting here thinking, if you remember the first meeting of the Biden administration in Alaska, it was that confrontational session where publicly each side criticized the other. And I watched this, and this was old-fashioned diplomacy. Yes, it's banquet talk and so forth. You don't want to exaggerate the significance. But this is kind of what you got to do sometimes. The fact that it's normal and boring

ain't the worst thing. It's sometimes what you want, the more contentious stuff you do in private. So I actually thought this was actually a good scene setter. Steve Ratner, what did you see in these two remarks? I think I agree with all that. But look, I think we're at a moment where both China and the U.S. particularly need things from each other. We need help from them in getting this straight. if Hormuz open, we need help from them in getting our rare earth minerals that they have been using as a pretty effective trade weapon. They obviously want to try to put something in the way of us selling. Who needs more who? Who needs more than? Well, I think in general, if you were to look

at how the trade war has unfolded since Trump 2.0, they've been the winners and we've been the losers because they have discovered that these rare earth, the so-called rare earth minerals, which are critical to making everything from F-35s to automobiles, they control much of the world's supply, and they've been using it very effectively. Remember, Trump raised tariffs to 145% on China and then back all the way, almost all the way back down because he couldn't sustain it. All right, we're going to continue our coverage. Still ahead on Morning Joe. We'll take a look at the global impact of the Strait of Hormuz remaining shut in, what it means for countries around the world. Plus, we'll show you how voters are reacting to President Trump's

comments earlier this week, saying he's not thinking about Americans' financial situations amid the war in Iran. And as we go to break, a quick look at the travelers' forecast this morning from Accuethers, Bernie Raino. Bernie, how's it looking? While the clouds in the cooler air are back in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, Mika, your exclusive acuether forecast, rain at times, Boston, Portland, couple of showers in New York City, lingering clouds interior section of the northeast with the shower to. Beautiful day, by the way, in Chicago, the heat can drunk thunderstorms to thunderstorm in Miami,

but much of the southeast is dry. Watch from travel delays Boston and New York City today. To help you make the best decisions that be more in the know, download the Acuether app today. The House will have to vote on a bill supporting Ukraine before

the end of the month after enough members of Congress signed on to a discharge petition yesterday. The legislation was introduced months ago, but never received enough signatures until independent congressman Kevin Kiley of California joined all Democrats and two Republicans to sign on. Kylie previously was a Republican, but formerly left the party back in March. The bill would authorize $1.3 billion in direct loans and establish a post-war reconstruction fund

and impose new sanctions on Russia. By the November midterms, extremely razor-thin margins that Mike Johnson's like a discharge petition can be extremely powerful in terms of bypassing his leadership, what he decides to ultimately bring on the floor and force his members to vote on. But right now in the House, you really only have people like Don Bacon and Brian Fitzpatrick and now independent Kevin Kiley, who have consistently voted against the interests of the Republicans right now, especially as they are fretting about the huge supplemental package that the president is now asking for to continue to fund the war in Iran. I believe is really the largest ask that a president has made to Congress in modern American history.

Not in a moment when members of Congress are going to be eager to throw billions overseas, even in what I think is a strong cause supporting Ukraine. I just would note that this this vote comes as Russia is striking Ukraine with unusual ferocity. Yesterday, there was what President Zelensky of Ukraine called one of the most massive attacks on Ukraine since the war began four years ago with more than 800 drones hitting the country Kiev under attack for much of the day yesterday. It's an attempt by Russia to show that they're not on their back foot as much as people said. So any congressional expression of support, even if it's not going to lead to delivery of the money,

I think will be welcome news for Keeb. And that's worth remembering. All right. Senate Republicans yesterday once again blocked Democratic legislation to halt hostility. This crop, we need to get a certain output. And we're... People will be at risk from hunger and starvation worldwide. Those who already don't have enough to eat, likely to pay the price for a standoff they have no control of. Famine is always preventable. Famine is always a man-made, human-made crisis. And for countries already experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity,

even a quick resolution may not be enough to avoid the worst outcomes. For some, it's already too late. Even if supplies were to start flowing today, it takes time to ship and to bring to market these critical inputs. Even with immediate action, we're already going to see an increase in humanitarian need. In the U.S., that could mean higher prices at the grocery store, as some farmers may pass the costs on to consumers. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows prices in April rose 3.8% from a year earlier, marking an increase from the year-over-year inflation rate of 3.3%. But back on the farm, Tom Sewell says raising prices is not an option, given the strong competition from around the world.

We grow up of wheat, just like someone in Ukraine or Argentina or Australia. or Brazil or whatever. So we can't just say to the consumer where we're going to put the price up because they can go and buy it somewhere else. While many farmers had already purchased fertilizer for the year before the war broke out, the effects could become more obvious in time.

So Tom says wheat farmers are now talking about potentially not planting their fields next year. The economics of growing a crop of wheat now is so tight that some farmers are saying, well, you know, we could leave it fallow for a year and lose less money than growing a crop and losing a lot of money. And with no end insight to the deadlock in the Middle East, the fear is the consequences here will only worsen in the months ahead.

In Azda-Equatera, MS now, Kent, England. All right, so Steve Ratner, talk a little bit more if you could about the economic impact of what's going on with the Strait of Hormuz, but also how China could help with this and what would that look like? Well, the Strait of Hormuz, as we know, being closed is a huge problem. And as your piece just said, it's not just oil. although the oil is a very big part of it. If you talk about oil, what's going on out there is that we are drawing down world inventories very, very quickly, which means that prices are just going to continue to go up.

It also means that even if the straight reopens, it's going to take a good while to unwind all of this. There are a whole different set of kinds of reports about how much damage has been done to oil facilities in the Middle East. We don't really know. At least I don't really know. They're not saying publicly, and that may have an impact on future oil production.

But as the report said, a lot of other things like fertilizer and plastics and things and chemicals come through the Gulf and not having those supplies is going to create world disruption. You saw our Consumer Price Index report two days ago, and you saw our producer price report yesterday. And those are really tough numbers. And they're just simply going to show inflation rising over the next few months at least. And that's going to put the Fed in an unusual position. So none of this is really good for us or for the rest of the world. In terms of China, look, I'll defer to Richard on some of this, too, but China obviously gets, as I said before,

30% of its oil roughly through the straight. So they have a huge incentive to get this thing open. That said, they don't seem to be doing a heck of a lot to actually accomplish that. Yeah, it's not clear how much influence they really have. I think what the Chinese also want to avoid is the war restarting, and once again, the energy infrastructure of the region getting destroyed. That would be a nightmare for them. So they could be helpful at margins, but they're not going to be decisive here.

Got it. Morning, Joe, economic analyst. Steve Ratner. And the Washington Post, David Ignatius, thank you both very much for coming on this morning. We appreciate it.