Up First from NPR - Trump Meets With China's Xi, Asia's View Of Summit, Trump Targets Law Firms

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for more than two hours at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with the CEOs of Apple, Tesla and NVIDIA in the room as both sides look to stabilize a trade relationship that has been on shaky ground for years. The rest of Asia is watching Trump's Beijing visit closely, as allies and rivals in the region try to read what a closer U.S.-China relationship could mean for them. And President Trump's crackdown on big law firms goes before a federal appeals court today, as firms that once employed lawyers who investigated Trump fight back against executive orders that targeted their security clearances and government contracts.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Tina Kraja, Anna Yukhananov, Mohamad ElBardicy and John Stolnis.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.And our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.(0:00) Introduction(01:54) Trump Meets With China's Xi(05:52) Asia's View Of Summit(09:33) Trump Targets Law FirmsSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

China's president used a summit with President Trump to repeat a warning about Taiwan. President Trump called his visit the biggest summit ever, but AIDS negotiated until the last moment over what to announce, if anything. I'm Michelle Martin in Washington, D.C., Stephen Skeep is in Beijing, and this is up first from NPR News. What do China's neighbors make at the summit? Many of them are U.S. allies that count on American support against China. We hear what some are considering to do if they should ever lose. that protection. And back at this country, an appeals court considers the president's effort to punish law firms he doesn't like. The president targeted lawyers for representing his political opponents. Lower court cited with attorneys, but the president has not given up. Say with us,

we'll give you news you need to start your day. Two presidents have been talking here in China's capital. President Trump met with China's President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People. Each side has released an account of their conversation. And each account suggests the leader's repeated familiar themes rather than breaking new ground. The U.S. version of the talk says they discussed getting American products into China. China says she repeated a familiar warning to the U.S. over Taiwan. The American version never mentions Taiwan. According to the Chinese, Trump said things in private that were very much like he's saying in public.

And there are those that say this is maybe the biggest summit ever. They can never remember anything like it. It's, I can say in the United States, it's people aren't talking about anything else. NPR's senior political correspondent Tamara Keith has been traveling with the president. She's with us here in Beijing. Hi, Tam. It's great to see you. So give me the big picture. What does Trump want out of this summit? True to his brand. Wherever Trump goes, he is looking to make deals. And it's not just the president himself. More than a dozen top corporate leaders from the U.S. are part of the delegation here. Tesla's Elon Musk and Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, which makes chips that are powering the AI boom, both flew with

With Trump on Air Force One, I saw Tim Cook of Apple earlier today as well, and Trump highlighted their presence in his remarks at the start of his first meeting with Xi. And they're here today to pay respects to you and to China. And they look forward to trade and doing business. And it's going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf. Of course, the reality of doing business in China is vastly more complicated than Trump makes it sound. But this is basically a year after Trump launched a trade war.

then China struck back. And both countries are now looking to put the trade relationship on at least a little bit more of a stable footing. Okay. This summit began with the ceremony this morning, Beijing time, at the Great Hall of the People. And you got to be there. What was it like? There were red carpets for miles. There was a military demonstration with soldiers marching in perfect synchrony. A military band played the U.S. national anthem as cannons were fired from Tiananmen Square. Wow. Well, I want people to hear what that sounded like. so they can almost be standing next to you. So let's just linger in the sound that you recorded at that moment.

Dozens of children welcoming President Trump, chanting a welcome while holding artificial flowers and American and Chinese flags. They're jumping up and down, waving the flags. President Trump is clearly charmed by all of these children. So these kids were perfectly well-behaved. perfectly lined up. And then once the leaders were out of view, they became real kids. And they were super wiggly and relieved, I think, to be able to stop performing. But Trump later

remarked on the kids as well. That was an honor like few have ever seen before. And I think I was particularly impressed by those children. They were happy. They were beautiful. Earlier this year, Trump said that he told she that they should put on the biggest display in the history of But I have to say that although this was impressive, this welcome ceremony really didn't seem all that different from how Trump was received in 2017 when he first visited as president. Is there real substance in this meeting? Yes. Okay. Okay.

Go on. You know, it's also a show. But at this moment in history, Trump and Xi are the decision makers. They are the negotiators. And so the state of the relationship between these two nations competing for global dominance comes down to the relationship between two men. Yeah. I got an impression from that communique that the Chinese. put out that they were continuing to negotiate right up to the last moment to try to find something

to announce, but we don't know. Indeed they were. NPR's Tamara Keith. It's a pleasure to see you. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Okay. Chinese state media are reporting at least one thing that President Xi told President Trump. She made a statement about Taiwan. China's president said if that relationship is not handled well, the U.S. and China will clash. He said it could put their whole relationship in jeopardy. Taiwan is a U.S. security partner. Okay, what do we make of that? NPR's Anthony Kuhn has covered East Asia for many, many years. He joins us from Seoul, South Korea. Anthony, it's good to talk with you. You too, Steve.

Is Taiwan worried about a warning like the one that came out today? Well, Taiwanese cabinet spokesperson, Michelle Lee, responded to Xi's warning by saying that the sole source of instability in the Taiwan Strait and the region is China's military threat against Taiwan. Or put another way, the risk of authoritarian expansion. Previously, the official line out of Taipei has been that the government is concerned but not overly worried. Taiwan's foreign minister, Lin Jia Long, spoke to reporters earlier this week, and he put it this way. We maintain continuous communication with the U.S., he said, both publicly and privately, and we are confident in the stable development of Taiwan-U.S. relations.

Now, Lin said he thinks that Taiwan is not high on the U.S. agenda, which is dominated by Trump, trade in Iran, but clearly China puts it front and center. The U.S. government keeps insisting that there is no change in U.S. policy toward Taiwan, but Lin Jalong added that ultimately the U.S. side is led by Trump, and he seems to be suggesting that Trump could veer away from established policy. Well, that is an interesting thought, because there are a lot of countries in the region that have a stake in the United States and China's relationship. A lot of countries rely on the United States for potential defense against China, and let's talk about a key U.S. allies. What's Japan saying here?

Well, their ties remain at the frostiest they've been in over a decade. And this started back in November when Prime Minister Sinai Takaichi said that Japan could possibly get involved militarily in case of a Chinese attack or blockade of Taiwan. And China launched a global pressure campaign to try to get Takeichi to retract her remarks. That's still going on. President Trump did not exactly leap to Japan's defense right away. Japan still hopes that he will in Beijing or at least. least that in his eagerness to cut a deal with China, Trump will not sell out Japan's or Taiwan's interests or use them as a bargaining chip. Are there smaller countries in the region

that feel like they have to hedge their bets? They have to be friendly with both the U.S. and China. Yes, you could say many countries are double hedging or triple hedging. They're trying to stay both on Beijing and Washington's good sides at the same time as they're busy building ties among themselves. These leaders are aware of President Trump's long-time skepticism of about allies and alliances, and they've heard his public remarks about a U.S.-China G2, which is shorthand for the U.S. and China taking charge of global governance. An example of leader's response is Japanese Prime Minister Sinai Takaichi, who just visited Vietnam and Australia,

and her message was that middle powers need to cooperate on economic security in order to preserve their own autonomy and protect them from economic coercion by other countries. Another example, of course, is Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carter, who, after he clashed with President Trump over tariffs last year, signed trade and security deals with 12 countries and told leaders at the World Economic Forum that, as he put it, if we're not at the table, we're on the menu. NPR's Anthony CUNN in Seoul. Thanks so much.

Thanks, Steve. President Trump's campaign to punish big law firms will get a hearing before an appeals court today. The White House has tried to yank security clearances and ban attorneys from federal buildings because the firms hired people are representatives, and clients the president does not like. NPR's Carrie Johnson has been following this legal drama, and she's here now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Carrie. Good morning, Michelle.

First, would you describe these White House orders and then explain what the president was trying to do? Yeah, President Trump's orders targeted several major law firms. He went about that several ways using security clearances and access to government buildings, and he tried to prevent the firms from winning federal contracts with the government, too. These law firms had once employed people who invests who investigated Donald Trump, like attorneys in the Russia probe, or they had represented causes or clients like the Democratic National Committee. Here's what the president had to say when he signed one of those orders last year. This is an absolute honor to sign.

What they've done is just terrible. It's weaponization. You could say weaponization against a political opponent, and it should never be allowed to happen again. Now, four of those law firms fought back in court, Wilmer Hale, Jenner and Block, Perkins Coy, and Sussman Godfrey, and they all won before judges who were appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents. But this administration says courts cannot tell the president how to handle national security clearances and they cannot interfere with directives about building access or government contracts. Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is going to hear the case. How are the law firms preparing to make their case?

The firms are looking to Supreme Court precedent that says our justice system depends on an informed and independent bar. They're going to argue these orders violate the First Amendment and pose a severe threat to the legal profession and the rule of law. And they say in court papers the adversarial system depends on courts hearing views from both sides. Lawyers need to be able to represent unpopular causes. They also say it's not just these law firms, their clients have a right to a lawyer of their choice under the Sixth Amendment. Now, many nonprofit legal groups have filed friend of the court briefs to support the law firms, but people who tried to organize opposition to the Trump order say there's really been a lack of courage by other law firms and partners. Philip La Cavavera served as a

prosecutor in the Watergate scandal. We encountered very widespread and very frustrating reluctance on the part of partners in major law firms to sign on to anything because they were concerned or their firm management was concerned about anything that involved getting crosswise with the president. Lachavara told me firms and partners were hiding in the weeds last year when Trump signed those orders. And it's still true since he couldn't get some big-name lawyers and firms to sign briefs this year either.

What do you expect what happened in court today? It's really odd that we are here only a couple of months ago. The Justice Department filed papers to withdraw this appeal and just take the loss. But DOJ quickly reversed course and a sign that President Trump wants to have this fight. Arguing for the Justice Department will be Abbashech Campbell. He's argued some of the administration's toughest cases over the past year. This will be one of his final moves in the government because he's leaving the DOJ soon. And arguing for the law firms will be former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement. He's a conservative who's been taking on tough assignments against the administration in Donald Trump's second term.

That is. And peers, Carrie Johnson, Kerry, Carrie, thank you. Thanks for having me. And that's Up First for this Thursday, May 14th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Miguel MacGiase, Tina Kraja,

Anna Yucananov, Mohamed El Bardisi, and John Stolness. It was produced by Zia Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Highness. Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. We hope you'll join us again. tomorrow.