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just foreign policy
Amid Trump-Xi Meeting, US Coalition Urges Congress to ‘Prioritize Peace’ and End ‘Confrontational Posture’ With China
“Americans are increasingly supportive of US-China cooperation, while tensions with China do not serve American interests,” said dozens of anti-war groups as President Trump met with Chinese President Xi.
May 14, 2026
As US President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a coalition of anti-war groups is calling on Congress to pressure the administration to "prioritize peace, cooperation, and stability" at a time when the US-China relationship is increasingly hostile.
“Americans are increasingly supportive of US-China cooperation, while tensions with China do not serve American interests,” argued the coalition, which includes Just Foreign Policy, Win Without War, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Our Revolution, and dozens of other groups in a letter sent to members of Congress on Thursday.
They cited recent surveys showing that negative perceptions of China are consistently falling among Americans, including a Pew Research poll from January, which showed that just 28% of Americans viewed China as an "enemy" compared with 42% who saw it that way in 2024.
“At a time when so many domestic needs are going unmet, a confrontational posture toward China is costing untold billions of dollars in military build-up, trade and energy disruption, and securitization of technology—money that could and should be spent on the things Americans need at home," the coalition continued.
Trump's first visit to China in nearly a decade comes amid a global energy crisis caused by his war in Iran, a conflict where China has expressed a desire to act as a mediator.
While the coalition denounced Trump's war as "an unauthorized war of choice" that has led the world to a "deeply dangerous and uncertain place," it also said it presented an opportunity for the US and China to engage in diplomacy in hopes of putting the relationship "on a more stable footing."
Xi said that Taiwan remains the "most important issue in China-US relations” as the talks kicked off, warning that if mishandled, it could create a "very dangerous situation."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after a meeting on Thursday that the decadesold "One China Policy," which takes no explicit view on Taiwan's sovereignty, hasn't changed. Though he warned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to attempt to seize the island by force.
Friction between the US and China has only been heightened after Trump announced the sale of more than $11 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan in December, the largest ever arms sale to the island. At the time, China said the sale "gravely violates" the One China Policy.
The anti-war coalition warned that "current military and political trends in the United States, China, and Taiwan are moving us closer to a serious crisis or conflict over the island" and called on the US to "revitalize its One China Policy and press Beijing to reaffirm its focus on peaceful unification, with no timeline."
“Diplomacy with Beijing, rather than military posturing or arms racing across the Taiwan Strait,” they said, “is the only realistic path forward, especially since the American public has little interest in participating in a military conflict against China in defense of Taiwan.”
According to a survey by the Institute for Global Affairs in November, just 35% of Americans said they'd support the US sending troops to defend Taiwan if it were to be attacked by China. In a January poll commissioned by The New Republic, just 10% of Democratic voters said they wanted their party to support sending troops, and 30% wanted it to support sending weapons.
But Democratic leadership has pressured Trump to take the opposite approach and ramp up hostility toward Beijing in advance of this week's talks.
On Wednesday, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was joined by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Jim Himes (D-Ct.), and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) to send a letter urging Trump to approve a delayed $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan ahead of his visit.
The Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee joined in support for the sale, saying that "Trump must reaffirm in his meeting with Xi that the US will continue to uphold our longstanding One-China policy while standing firmly with Taiwan’s democracy and security. And he must make that clear by notifying Congress of the $14 billion arms sales to Taiwan. Anything else would undermine American credibility."
Just Foreign Policy (JFP) countered that the request to send more weapons just before talks were set to begin was "deeply unserious" and an "absurdly ill-timed move that would sabotage diplomacy—or worse."
Jake Werner, the director of the East Asia program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft—another signatory to the anti-war letter—warned that while Democrats should confront Trump on the issue of China, they shouldn't goad him into an even more hawkish approach.
“If you want to attack Trump, that's great, but you should attack Trump on the basis of prudent, conflict-avoiding principles,” Werner said. “They should be criticizing him not for engaging in diplomacy, but for engaging in the wrong kind of diplomacy.”
In their letter to Congress, these and the other anti-war groups pushed for a similar diplomatic approach to other sources of tension with China, arguing that the US should take no position on the sovereignty of disputed territory in the South China Sea.
They also encouraged members of Congress to avoid creating "incentives" for other nations to adopt more confrontational stances toward China.
They singled out a first-ever test launch of an American Tomahawk missile in the Philippines last week, which had the capability to reach the Chinese mainland. Chinese military observers described it as the “worst provocation” in years by the US and suggested that Beijing should ramp up its air-defense and stealth-strike drone capabilities in response, according to the South China Morning Post.
The anti-war coalition said they "urge Congress to press the administration to avoid further escalatory signals and to instead pursue diplomacy to restore and expand non-proliferation agreements that can prevent a wasteful and dangerous arms race."
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‘We Must Act Now’: Tlaib Introduces Pair of Bills to Block US Support For Israel’s Lebanon Invasion
"We are witnessing the same genocidal playbook used against Palestinians in Gaza, now in Lebanon," Rep. Rashida Tlaib said.
Mar 27, 2026
As Israel ramps up its devastating invasion of Lebanon, Rep. Rashida Tlaib has introduced legislation in the US House of Representatives aimed at blocking US support.
Israel's latest onslaught against Lebanon, launched after the militant group Hezbollah retaliated against the joint US-Israeli attack against Iran at the end of February, has already killed more than 1,100 people, including at least 121 children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Many pieces of civilian infrastructure—including hospitals, schools, and residential buildings—have been attacked, and Israel has issued forced evacuation orders that have led more than 1 million people to be displaced from their homes.
“Thousands of families in our district with strong ties to Lebanon are living through immense pain,” said Tlaib, who represents a district that includes parts of Detroit and surrounding suburbs. “Many have lost loved ones, watched their grandparents' towns and villages be completely destroyed, and seen relatives uprooted from their homes, not knowing if they will ever be able to return.”
Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, introduced two resolutions on Friday. The first calls on the US to use its leverage to end Israel's land and air assaults against Lebanese territory, denounce efforts at territorial expansion, and investigate alleged crimes against humanity.
The second, cosponsored by Reps. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), is a war powers resolution that would require President Donald Trump to remove US forces from participation in all military actions in Lebanon that have not been authorized by Congress.
In recent days, Israel has expanded its ground operation, aiming to control the entire territory south of the Litani River indefinitely. Leaders of the military campaign, such as Defense Minister Israel Katz, have suggested using the genocidal war in Gaza as a "model" for Lebanon, including the full destruction of residential areas.
"We are witnessing the same genocidal playbook used against Palestinians in Gaza, now in Lebanon," Tlaib said. "Israeli leaders are openly celebrating it. This ethnic cleansing campaign is only possible because of US support, funded by our tax dollars. We must act now to stop these crimes against humanity and illegal invasion of Lebanon.”
Nathan Thompson, a senior analyst at Just Foreign Policy, which advised Tlaib on the legislation, told Common Dreams that although the US military and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are "deeply operationally integrated, and have only become more so since October 7, 2023," the extent of direct US involvement in Lebanon has been kept secret from the public.
"Military officials wouldn’t say whether or not they provided targeting assistance for Israel’s airstrikes on Hezbollah in 2024, and that’s exactly the type of action Congress has considered to be unauthorized ‘hostilities’ under the War Powers Act in the past," Thompson said.
However, he said, "We know that the IDF and the US military are linked at the hip—on weapons sales, missile defense, targeting assistance, everything."
Tlaib's resolutions come as another war powers resolution to limit Trump's ability to launch more attacks against Iran appears to have gained enough support to pass the House, although Democratic leadership has chosen to delay the vote until mid-April despite warnings that Trump may soon dramatically escalate the war, including with US ground troops.
That bill remains viable due to limited Republican support, including from Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Warren Davidson (Ohio), and Nancy Mace (SC). While Massie has been a consistent anti-war vote, it's unclear whether other Republicans, as well as some pro-Israel Democrats, would similarly sign onto a resolution concerning Lebanon.
Thompson said the Lebanon-related legislation is an “urgently necessary tool to end US complicity” as Israeli officials are “talking about functionally annexing southern Lebanon and recreating Gaza-level destruction there.”
He said, "A war powers vote forces all of Congress to go on the record: Do you want the US to enable this genocide, or not?"
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Trump Escalates in Venezuela With 'Illegal' US Seizure of Oil Tanker
“Millions of civilians will be at risk if the economy deteriorates and tensions rise," warned one anti-war group.
Dec 10, 2025
The US military on Wednesday seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela in the latest act of aggression against a nation that President Donald Trump has been openly threatening for several weeks.
Bloomberg, which described the move as a "serious escalation" in tensions between the US and Venezuela, reported that the seizure of the tanker by US forces "may make it much harder for Venezuela to export its oil, as other shippers are now likely to be more reluctant to load its cargoes."
The seizure was described to Bloomberg by a Trump administration official as a "judicial enforcement action on a stateless vessel" that had been docked in Venezuela.
Shortly after the seizure occurred, Trump boasted about it during a meeting with business leaders at the White House, declaring that the tanker was the "largest one ever seized."
Trump: "It's been an interesting day from the standpoint of news. As you probably know, we've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. Largest one ever seized actually. And other things are happening." pic.twitter.com/wyOYMKCJTT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 10, 2025
Just Foreign Policy, a progressive think tank and advocacy group, condemned the seizure of the tanker, describing it as an "illegal US move to take control of Venezuela's natural resources and strangle the economy, which is already struggling under indiscriminate US sanctions," and warning that "millions of civilians will be at risk if the economy deteriorates and tensions rise."
The seizure of the oil tanker is just one of many aggressive maneuvers that the Trump administration has been making around Venezuela.
Starting in September, the administration began a series of murders of people aboard boats in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela and in the Pacific Ocean.
The Trump administration has claimed those targeted for extrajudicial killing are drug smugglers and accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading an international drug trafficking organization called the Cartel de los Soles, despite many experts saying that they have seen no evidence that such an organization formally exists.
Trump late last month further escalated tensions with Venezuela when he declared that airspace over the nation was “closed in its entirety,” even though he lacks any legal authority to enforce such a decree. Trump has also hinted that strikes against purported drug traffickers on Venezuelan soil would occur in the near future.
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