Trump Skips Direct China Line From Address in First Since 2005

Bloomberg News

Wed, February 25, 2026 at 7:29 PM GMT+9 2 min read

(Bloomberg) – Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech was the first time in two decades a US president didn’t directly mention China in the annual speech to Congress, despite Tuesday’s address being the longest in modern history.

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Trump used the nearly two-hour speech at the US Capitol to focus on domestic issues and paint a rosy picture of the economy under his leadership. He skipped references to the US’s economic competition with China, which have been included in many of the annual presidential speeches to Congress given by former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush — and Trump last year and during his first White House term.

The last time China didn’t get an explicit shout out was 2005 when Bush was president.

Tuesday’s address, however, did include a passing reference to the world’s second largest economy. Trump, while honoring Army helicopter pilot Eric Slover, mentioned that Chinese military technology was used to fortify Venezuelan strongman’s Nicolas Maduro’s compound.

“Eric steered the Chinook under the cover of night and descended swiftly upon Maduros’ heavily protected military fortress,” Trump said. “This was a major military installation protected by thousands of soldiers and guarded by Russian and Chinese military technology.”

It’s not clear why Trump didn’t address the US’s economic ties with China, but the timing of the omission is notable. He is planning to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in late March, the first trip by an American president since Trump’s last visit in 2017. Trump has repeatedly touted his excellent relationship with Xi, and has said he is eager to discuss trade and business investment between the two countries with the the Chinese leader.

But Trump’s leverage heading in the meeting is widely seen as being undercut by a recent Supreme Court ruling that limits his ability to impose and withdraw tariffs at-will. That legal loss has destabilized Trump’s economic agenda and restricts him from quickly and unilaterally deploying tariffs, which he has described as one of his favorite tools in negotiations with foreign powers.

In recent presidential speeches to Congress, references to China have grown more robust. China has been cast as a formidable economic rival, with presidents urging lawmakers to adopt policies to spur innovation to compete with China.

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Biden used his speeches to encourage Congress to approve subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Obama focused on Beijing’s investment in renewable industries. Trump himself in 2025 lamented about China’s high tariffs on US goods, and during his first term lashed out at tech theft and the impact on jobs.

Even Bush included some fleeting warnings about China. In a 2006 speech he described the country, then the No. 4 global economy, as an up-and-coming competitor.

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