As President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for high-stakes talks with President Trump, the United States Senate is pressing forward with legislation to bar Chinese-made vehicles from American shores — a deliberate act of institutional resolve that reminds both leaders that diplomacy unfolds in the shadow of democratic will. The anxiety beneath this move is ancient in its shape: a dominant industrial power confronting a rising competitor whose speed and scale challenge assumptions long taken for granted. Whether the outcome is a legislative wall or a negotiated threshold, the American automo