Trump’s State of the Union Address: A Notable Omission
On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump delivered what became the longest State of the Union address on record. While he made a lighthearted remark regarding unreliable Chinese munitions during his comments about Venezuela, there wasn’t much focus on China overall.
Amidst his strong criticism of China, he lauded the remarkable skill and bravery of the “truly great heroes” involved in capturing Venezuela’s narco-terrorist leader, Nicolas Maduro.
President Trump specifically commended Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover for his role in “planning the mission and conducting the flight from the cockpit of the first helicopter.” He detailed how Slover piloted a Chinook helicopter under the cover of darkness, landing in Maduro’s heavily fortified military facility that’s guarded by thousands and protected by Russian and Chinese military technology. The president added, almost playfully, “How was it? It wasn’t very good.”
As President Trump delivered his speech, it was quite evident that he had things he wanted to say about China’s role as America’s top geopolitical rival, especially during a joint session of Congress in 2025. He expressed concerns about China’s unfair trade practices, vowed to implement tariffs to bring jobs back from China, and assured that China wouldn’t gain control of the Panama Canal.
Interestingly, just before Trump presented his 2026 State of the Union, CK Hutchison, based in Hong Kong, signed significant port contracts. He could have boasted about this but chose to focus elsewhere. Additionally, he skipped mentioning efforts to involve China in a new trilateral nuclear arms control treaty with the U.S. and Russia, which was recently highlighted by the revelation of a secret Chinese nuclear bomb test.
Perhaps Trump’s decision to leave out China from his address was strategic, designed to avoid provoking them while ongoing trade talks are in play. Bloomberg noted this was the first time since 2005 that Trump omitted China from his State of the Union remarks.
The reason behind this omission isn’t entirely clear, yet it coincides with an upcoming meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing slated for late March—the first visit by a U.S. president since 2017. Speculation arose that the recent Supreme Court ruling against Trump’s tariffs may have influenced his decision to temper his comments on China during this address.
Trump likely didn’t want to ignite tensions with China, particularly in an election year. Maintaining a stable U.S.-China relationship seems crucial for him, at least for this year and possibly throughout the remainder of his term. Gabriel Wildo from Teneo remarked on this stance during a CNBC interview.
Meanwhile, George Chen from Asia Group suggested that Trump’s cautious approach might be due to the uncertain details surrounding his impending meeting with Xi, as China’s Foreign Ministry hasn’t finalized the meeting dates just yet.
Stephen Okun, CEO of APAC Advisors, added that a potential tariff deal with China in late March or early April could help ease U.S. consumer prices and would conveniently align with Trump’s message concerning affordability ahead of the midterm elections.
As for the response, CNBC observed that Chinese state media remained relatively quiet about the State of the Union, only making a few social media comments focused on the Democratic response to Trump’s remarks.
