On this episode of the podcast, Amanda Head talks with China and national security expert Steve Yates to break down President Trump’s latest summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and why the meeting was less about trust and more about strategic leverage.

Yates describes the Trump-Xi talks as a “maintenance mission,” explaining that while President Trump pushed major economic and geopolitical issues ranging from trade and energy to Iran and market access, the Chinese Communist Party remains deeply resistant to meaningful reform. He argues that America’s greatest leverage over China is still access to the U.S. consumer market and warns that Beijing has repeatedly failed to honor past trade commitments.

The conversation shifts into a far more alarming discussion about what Yates calls the CCP’s increasingly aggressive influence operations inside the United States. Head and Yates discuss Chinese-linked bio labs discovered in America, election and social media manipulation, university partnerships, espionage concerns tied to U.S. research institutions, and the growing national security debate surrounding birth tourism and Chinese surveillance tactics.

Yates also shares a firsthand story from his own government service involving suspected Chinese surveillance technology secretly placed inside his laptop during an official trip to China, warning that modern espionage operations have become far more advanced than most Americans realize.

You can follow Amanda Head, this podcast, and Steve Yates on X by searching for the respective handle: @AmandaHead, @FurthermorePod, @SteveYates.

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