Overview
- Minutes before meeting Xi Jinping in Busan on Oct. 30, President Trump posted in all caps that “THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY,” reviving a term long avoided in Washington.
- China welcomed the language as major-power responsibility, Trump later hailed his “G2 meeting” as leading to “everlasting peace,” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed the term after speaking with his Chinese counterpart.
- Analysts said the label implies peer status for China and warned that U.S. partners could be disadvantaged, heightening unease in allied capitals including India, Japan and Australia.
- Economist C. Fred Bergsten, who introduced the concept in 2005, said his aim was pragmatic U.S.-China cooperation on global economic issues rather than supplanting forums like the G7 or G20.
- A separate Trump post about ordering immediate U.S. nuclear testing was reported without White House clarification, and fact-checkers highlighted inconsistencies with recent testing records.