[laughs]

... and, and putting together these summits, uh, a, a bit later in the game than might be traditionally the case.

I, I think therefore, Henrietta, the way I look at it is this.

I think we should have somewhat limited expectations for this summit.

This summit is n- uh, I'm confident is not going to transform the US-China relationship, and I think whatever deliverables come out I think are going to be quite modest.

Nonetheless, I still think the summit, like every summit before it, will be highly significant.

The things that I'll be looking at are will it, in fact, uh, signal that the US and China have agreed to continue this what I call a fragile truce between Washington, uh, and Beijing? Some are calling it a tactical détente.

There's always has to be an adjective.

Yeah.

... competition with the United States, right? And so they're not surprised that the US would take steps, uh, against them.

But I think they learned under the first, uh, Trump administration, if you're hit by President Trump, you have to respond tit-for-tat, uh, eye for an eye, and that's what they've done.

But after they did that and proved to their people they could do so, I think they had scope to cut that deal, uh, in Geneva.

Now, um, the US side is clearly dissatisfied.

The agreement of Geneva was a bit vague.

It said that th- China agreed to remove the countermeasures it had taken against the United States since April 2.

Everybody respects us." Is that true?

What do you believe is the cumulative impact of those steps this administration has taken, even though, again, they have pulled them back?

I think the Vietnamese friends have been surprised and perhaps shocked by some of the steps that they've seen coming from Washington.

I think they were deeply unnerved by the initial steps to, uh, cut off the funding for the legacy of war work that you and I have discussed.

But secondly, they were probably even more stunned to see the 46% tariff rate levied on them on April 2nd.

And I think for Vietnamese friends that continue to look at the United States as an incredibly important partner, uh, with whom they can balance, uh, a- against China and, and, and, uh, other challenges.

And so they were surprised to think that the United States would carry out such a move against them.

And I think also the Vietnamese had such a positive experience with President Trump in his first term, I think that only, uh, increased the, the impact, uh, of the moves.

Do you believe that there's an off-ramp to this trade war?