On October 30, US President Donald Trump met his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, in Busan, South Korea. At first glance, the encounter appeared to be a formal bilateral meeting. However, what arguably made it the real talking point was Trump’s subsequent social media post on X: “The G2 will be convening shortly!” Following this declaration, scholars and practitioners from the US, China, and elsewhere offered a range of opinions. Yet, as the event unfolded, it appears the label attached to the meeting garnered more attention than the meeting itself, reducing it to no more than a moment of global hype.
The Group of Two, or G-2, is not novel; rather, it is a reincarnation of an older narrative introduced over a decade and a half ago. At the time, the G-2 was optimistically referred to as a framework for co-leadership or cooperation between the world’s two largest economic and strategic powers. However, Trump’s resurrection of the concept appears less about genuine policy coordination and more about political and strategic signalling, rooted in long-standing US rhetorical traditions.