In a moment weighted with symbolism and strategic calculation, President Trump broke with presidential tradition to personally receive Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, flanked by red carpet, military ceremony, and the sound of bombers overhead. The gesture coincided with a two-month extension of the Busan trade truce, buying both nations more time before the deeper reckoning over commerce, technology, and Taiwan must be faced. What unfolds across these two days is less a resolution than a performance of possibility — a wager that ceremony and personal rapport can