Antoni Slodkowski

The fentanyl issue will also be mixed into the talks - a letter that Trump's team sent to China with four asks on fentanyl in late April didn't go down well in Beijing - so let's see how that conversation evolves in Geneva and beyond.

It's not been easy for Beijing to figure out, partly because experienced embassy officials here have been mostly frozen out of the talks - and the seasoned deputy chief of mission has been shown the door this week.

That said, nobody is expecting a major breakthrough overnight. Internally, the Chinese have downgraded the talks to a "meeting", meaning they don't think major decisions are imminent: they're focused on figuring out what the Americans actually want first.

fear of being left out as China's trading partners press ahead with trade talks with the U.S.; and persistent outreach by the U.S. and cooling of the rhetoric on Trump's part.

Among the factors driving the decision: growing worries over the fate of Chinese companies unable to replace the U.S. market;

Inside China's decision to come to the table on Trump tariffs Re-engagement was complicated by the fractious nature of U.S.-China diplomacy.

Why after weeks of tough rhetoric did Beijing decide to sit down at the table with Trump's team to talk tariffs?

www.reuters.com/world/inside...

Our story on the awards: lnkd.in/gdwX24_v Here's the winning series: lnkd.in/gYmA8UkF I contributed to this story: lnkd.in/gmN_7Hca and was one of the bylined reporters on this story in the series: www.reuters.com/investigates...

We won for "a boldly reported exposé of lax regulation in the U.S. and abroad that makes fentanyl, one of the world’s deadliest drugs, inexpensive and widely available to users in the United States." www.pulitzer.org/winners/22665

Proud to be a member of the @reuters.com team that won this year's Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting.

Reupping our story from last night here - China has put its bureaucrats on "wartime' footing, sent official letters to other countries to coordinate opposition to US tariffs, and flew in its ambassadors to Beijing to discuss the response - more scoopy details inside:

Face and pride are very important in China and seeing how leaders of other countries have been embarrassed by Trump this year in direct talks (Canada, Ukraine) it’s no surprise there’s little appetite for direct interaction.
ENDS

There’s no easy off-ramp. Trump says he wants to talk to Xi but that’s not how things work in China - the leader comes in at the end after working level officials have hammered out the deal - he’s not haggling himself.

China’s defiant response marked a C hard turn after months of courting Trump and holding it hope for a deal encompassing trade, TikTok and maybe even Taiwan. It’s fair to say those dreams have been squandered.

Antoni Slodkowski
@slodek
Many of these details about China’s response have not been reported before.

In a sign that Beijing is circling the wagons and bracing for a protracted period of strife, foreign affairs ministry has convened a meeting of ambassadors and senior officials this week.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t voices calling for a more measured response. Influential blogger Chairman Rabbit called for a more targeted response.

As Xi chose to punch back, China’s response has been framed by propaganda officials, replete with videos of Mao saying “we’ll never yield”.

China has sent official letters to countries targeted by Trump’s tariffs seeking to coordinate opposition. It has also reached out to several other countries to form a joint response.

China has put government workers on “wartime footing” - officials must have their phones always on, can’t leave Beijing, and they have to cancel their holidays.

How China went from courting Trump to ‘never yield’ tariff defiance The combative approach marked a hard turn for Beijing, which had tried to avoid a spiraling trade war.

ICYMI, late on Sunday we published this inside account of how China went from seeking a deal with Trump to "wartime footing" for its bureaucrats.

www.reuters.com/markets/how-...

We were recognized for our "original and audacious multipart, multimedia series exposing the global supply chain for the chemicals used to make illicit fentanyl."

lnkd.in/gYmA8UkF

Happy to share that my colleagues in the Americas and I have been named the winners of a Reuters 2024 Journalists of the Year Award in the Enterprise Reporting of the Year category.

...Surprisingly, the reporting showed that the U.S. mail system is so exploitable that the chemicals often flow from China to the U.S. in small packages before being forwarded to Mexico for final production as pills."

Here's the link to all winning entries: lnkd.in/gykhgHnP

From the judges: "This ambitious exploration of the global supply chain for fentanyl exposed the vulnerabilities of the United States’ efforts to police imports of Chinese chemicals that Mexican cartels obtain to make the drug...

Happy to share the Overseas Press Club Award for the best international business news reporting with Reuters friends from the Americas and beyond for our series on the fentanyl supply chain: lnkd.in/gYmA8UkF

Trump's Greenland bid stirs debate in China about what to do with Taiwan For years, the U.S. government has urged China to show "restraint" in pushing its claim on Taiwan and to drop military threats to bring the democratically governed island under its control.

With Ben and James: www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Trump’s transition team advisors are advocating a much more aggressive posture towards China over fentanyl than the one adopted by Joe Biden, including pushing for US sanctions on Chinese banks allegedly linked to the illicit trade, @Reuters has learned reut.rs/3CI9R9D

Trump camp says China is ‘attacking’ U.S. with fentanyl. A fight looms President Joe Biden‘s fentanyl diplomacy with China is under scrutiny as President-elect Donald Trump’s team seeks a harder line to stop the flow of Chinese-made chemicals powering America’s epidemic.

China and the United States resumed counternarcotics talks at the end of January. Here's our behind-the-scenes look at what those negotiations have accomplished - and how the Trump team is aiming to reshape them:

www.reuters.com/investigates...

I think this line is key to understanding Bluesky's draw - "with Bluesky, it also feels like you can control your experience in the app. That isn’t always the case with Threads, where Meta makes the rules about what shows up in the algorithmic feed that it constantly pushes at you."

Do you have a news tip? Share it securely with Reuters How to submit a confidential news tip to @Reuters

Hi @bsky.app community. I run political investigations at @reuters.com. I have a team of reporters focused on threats to democracy and abuses of power. If you have a tip or work in the federal government, please message me on jason.szep@reuters.com or contact us here: www.reuters.com/investigates...