Why the U.S.-China thaw is harder than it looks

In today’s CEO Daily: After the Trump-Xi dinner, the tough part begins.

The big leadership story: OpenAI pauses training for a second time.

The markets: Mixed globally as oil ticks up.

Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. My Scottish cousin extolled the virtues of his Chinese-made handset while visiting me in New York this weekend, arguing that my Apple iPhone can’t compete when it comes to on-device AI agents and integration. Maybe he’s right. It’s hard for me to know as U.S. carriers don’t sell or support most Chinese brands. U.S. consumers have been shielded from much of the innovation coming out of China. They can’t buy a car made by BYD, the world’s most popular EV maker with its bestselling Seagull starting at around $8,000. They can’t buy Chinese-made humanoid robots and pets or experience the seamless brand integration on a super app like WeChat.

There are many reasons for such product bans, including legitimate concerns about security, intellectual property theft and unfair competition because of state subsidies. But Chinese companies have also moved ahead of American competitors in key areas, making some U.S. CEOs and entrepreneurs now eager to tap their technologies, too. That’s worth keeping in mind when reflecting on the outcome of last week’s China-U.S. summit and apparent warmth between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Navigating the relationship between the two countries is complex, regardless of the tariff situation. Here’s why:

A deficit of trust. Concerns about Chinese IP theft are nothing new in Washington, but September brought two major escalations. Earlier this month, the Justice Department finally brought its landmark criminal case against Huawei Technologies to trial in a Brooklyn federal court, alleging the business was built on a two-decade “culture of crime” that stole........

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