Xi flexes growing legal arsenal to warn Trump before summit

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping while leaving after a visit to the Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing, China, May 15, 2026. China's latest barrage of countermeasures against the U.S. drew on an expanding legal arsenal, demonstrating Beijing's growing capacity to retaliate while warning Washington against further tech curbs before Chinese President Xi Jinping's expected visit to the U.S. next month. The package announced Wednesday featured the first national security investigation under China's recently revised Foreign Trade Law and tighter scrutiny of drone-related exports. It also included sanctions on seven American entities and a suspension of cooperation with the U.S. over the inspection of products destined for China. The speed and breadth of the action, revealed in a volley of five statements released one week after the U.S. moved to ban new foreign robots, shows China's willingness and ability to turn up the pressure even as it preserved room for de-escalation.