Trump Drops Bombshell Confession on China Spying During Three Day Visit—’…That’s the Way It Is’

President Donald Trump made a candid admission amid his China trip, claiming that both China and the U.S. spy on each other, as he addressed espionage and surveillance concerns.

His remarks came amid his three-day state visit to China, from Wednesday, May 13, to Friday, May 15. Soon after landing in Beijing, Trump began a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on several key issues, including the tense trade relationship between the two superpowers, the Iran war, and Taiwan. 

After his initial meeting with Xi, Trump sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity in Beijing. During the interview, he admitted that both superpowers engage in intelligence activities. “She talked about China. She said, ‘They steal this, and they steal that.’ I said, ‘Meh, we do it to them too.’ ‘They spy on us!’ I said, ‘We spy on them too,'” Trump told Hannity. 

The president also acknowledged the intellectual property and personal information theft accusations against China, adding that the U.S. does it too. “‘They steal this, they steal that.’ We do it to them, too!” Trump said, adding, “We do things. They do things. That’s the way it is.”

Trump then stated that he had spoken with President Xi about the same. “I spoke to [Xi] very strongly about that. I’d like to see it taken care of. But they’ve been doing that for 50 years,” he said. 

In November 2025, Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes that the U.S. and China constantly surveil each other. When interviewer Norah O’Donnell pressed Trump on China about the allegations by American intelligence agencies regarding the Chinese having infiltrated parts of the U.S. power grids, water systems, and stealing Americans’ data, he acknowledged that the U.S. conducts the same intelligence activities it criticizes China for doing.

Trump acknowledged that the U.S. poses a similar challenge to China, noting that many of the tactics the U.S. criticizes are mirrored in its own actions. He described the relationship as a high-stakes global competition where both nations maintain constant surveillance on one another.

The 79-year-old president noted that their relationship is currently very positive, suggesting that collaboration would lead to greater mutual strength than open conflict. Meanwhile, Trump and the entire U.S. delegation are taking extreme precautions during their visit to China to minimize the risks of hacking, surveillance, or data collection, and are essentially under a “digital lockdown.”

According to a Fox News report, officials entering China leave their everyday phones behind, and “often travel with stripped-down ‘clean’ devices, temporary laptops and tightly controlled communications systems.” Messages are sent either in person or via controlled and temporary channels. Cloud access becomes limited, and contacts reportedly disappear. 

The recent state visit marked Trump’s first visit to China since 2017. President Xi hosted a state banquet for the U.S. delegation at the Great Hall of the People and remarked that the US-China relationship is one of the most important bilateral ties in the world, representing a combined population of 1.7 billion.

Trump, on the other hand, invited Xi to visit the White House in September. “Thank you again, President Xi, for this beautiful welcome… It is my honor to extend an invitation to you and Madam Peng to visit us at the White House, September 24, and we look forward to it,” he said.

Trump then raised a toast to the “rich and enduring ties between the American and Chinese people,” saying, “It’s a very special relationship, and I want to thank you again. This has been an amazing period of time. Thank you, President Xi.”