Rob Walton at a Walmart annual meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Rick T. Wilking/Getty Images
Rob Walton, eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, is stepping down from the company's board.
He first joined Walmart in 1969 and has served on the board for more than 40 years.
The company said Walton "helped shape some of the most important moments in Walmart history."
Rob Walton, eldest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton's three children, is stepping down from the company's board of directors in June.
Walton chose not to seek re-election and will retire from the board when his term ends in June, the company said Thursday.
Before joining Walmart in 1969, Walton worked with his father at his earlier five-and-dime store, and has served on the board for more than 40 years, including over two decades as chairman.
The company said Walton "helped shape some of the most important moments in Walmart history."
"His leadership has been critical as we've grown our business over so many years. There's no doubt Sam would be very proud," Walmart chairman Greg Penner said in a statement. "On behalf of our associates and the Board, I'd like to thank him for his unparalleled and amazing service."
Even in retirement, Walton will have significant influence over Walmart through his co-ownership of Walton Enterprises, which is the largest holder of Walmart stock.
He also amassed a considerable fortune in his 79 years, with a net worth of roughly $80 billion, according to Bloomberg.
More Americans are becoming ALICEs — people who are asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed but struggle to afford rent and groceries. The subject of the story is not pictured above.
Oscar Wong / Getty Images
Cherie Tobias, 48, lives above the poverty line but struggles to afford necessities, like food.
She's considered an ALICEs — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed.
Tobias makes $25,064 as an Applebee's server but can't pay for medicine and electricity.
Cherie Tobias, 48, hasn't been grocery shopping in over a year because she can't afford it.
She's a server at an Applebee's in Hastings, Michigan, and works at least 40 hours a week for $25,064 annually, per documents viewed by Business Insider.Still, Tobias said people "aren't tipping like they used to," and most of the time, she can only afford one meal a day.
As the main income earner for her household, Tobias works to support her 19-year-old son, her fiancé, and her fiancé's mother. She struggles to pay her bills and typically is only able to eat something when she uses her employee discount at Applebee's or has enough money to buy a few stand-alone ingredients at a time from the store.
Tobias said her financial situation makes her feel "hopeless, desperate, defeated, and ready to give up." Still, because her income technically places her above the federal poverty line, she doesn't qualify for government assistance.
"I make too much to get help," she told Business Insider.
Tobias is one of a growing number of Americans who are ALICEs — people who are asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. Many ALICEs make too much money to qualify for government assistance programs like SNAP benefits but don't make enough to afford daily life in the US comfortably.
The federal poverty line is $20,440 a year for a family of two, and is not adjusted to reflect cost-of-living differences in individual cities or states. Many ALICEs live paycheck to paycheck.
About 29% of US households are ALICEs, compared to 13% of Americans who live below the federal poverty level, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey data and cost-of-living estimates analyzed by United Way's United For ALICE program.
For Tobias, her economic position feels like being stuck in a cycle of asking for help that never arrives.
"I don't want to be rich," she said. "I just want to be able to get by comfortably without the stress."
Tobias works full-time but struggles to afford utilities and healthcare
Electricity and mortgage bills are Tobias' top expenses. Her fiancé is disabled, and all of his disability payments go toward paying for the couple's house.
Tobias said she is responsible for covering her family's other needs, and she just received a "shutoff notice" for her electricity in the mail. She's hoping to file for state emergency relief so she can keep her lights on.
Because of a car accident a few years ago, Tobias also has health issues. She has Medicaid, but her income level means she doesn't qualify for strong coverage.
And, any financial assistance she had from pandemic relief funds is no longer available, she said.
Applebee's doesn't provide Tobias with health insurance and she can't afford her own plan — she estimates she spends $2,000 on out-of-pocket healthcare costs a month, which includes buying prescription medications. On her last trip to the pharmacy, Tobias said she was only able to afford one of the three prescriptions she needed.
Soon, if she can afford it, Tobias hopes to move her family out of Michigan and find stability somewhere else. She has a college degree and has submitted almost 50 job applications but hasn't been hired yet.
Stability for Tobias would mean opening the cupboard knowing there's food there for the day, she said. She would also be grateful to go to the pharmacy and pick up all of her necessary medicine in one trip.
She wishes there was more support for people in economic positions like hers.
"We need help, especially those of us that are trying to go to work every day," Tobias said. "No matter how we feel, no matter how much pain we're in, we're going to try to push through to provide — but we go home defeated."
Are you making above the poverty line but still struggling to afford daily life? Reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@insider.com.
Mint Butterfield, center, is the child of Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Wired, Marin County Sheriff's Office, Andrew Toth/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
Mint Butterfield, the teen child of two tech founders, has gone missing in California.
Butterfield, 16, may have run away to San Francisco's Tenderloin district.
Authorities are appealing for help finding Butterfield.
Mint Butterfield, the teen child of tech founders who set up Slack and Flickr, went missing over the weekend.
The 16-year-old was last seen Sunday evening in Bolinas, California, north of San Francisco.
Since then, law enforcement put out several alerts for Butterfield, saying the teen's safety is at risk.
Per the Marin County Sheriff's Office, Butterfield, who uses they/them pronouns, was last seen by their mother, Flickr cofounder Caterina Fake, at home on Sunday evening.
Butterfield left a note, the sheriff's office said, and took a suitcase with them. They didn't have a phone or a car, per a press release.
The press release said that Butterfield may have gone to San Francisco, where they and Fake have a second home.
According to the press release, Fake believes Butterfield could have headed for San Francisco's Tenderloin district, an area known for homelessness, crime, and drugs.
The sheriff's office said it considers Butterfield's safety to be at risk because of a previous threat of suicide.
Its detectives, as well as the San Francisco Police Department, had searched for them in the city, but without success, the release said.
Butterfield's father is Stewart Butterfield, who cofounded Flickr in 2004 with Fake and went on to cofound the workplace-messaging service Slack. He and Fake are divorced.
Representatives for the Marin County Sheriff's Office, Stewart Butterfield, and Fake did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Butterfield was deemed a "voluntary missing person" in the press release, which said there is no evidence to suggest the teen "was taken against their will."
DailyMail.com reported that Butterfield may be somewhere else, citing a social-media post by a family friend.
The friend, per the report, said Butterfield was seen in Larkspur Landing, north of San Francisco and about a 50-minute drive from Bolinas.
Business Insider was unable to verify the report. The press release said that some media outlets had published false information, but didn't give specifics.
The Marin County Sheriff's Office described Butterfield as being 5 feet tall with "brown/reddish curly hair" and pierced eyebrows. They were last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, flannel pajama pants, and black boots.
Adam Schermerhorn, a public information officer with the Marin County Sheriff's Office, told People on Thursday that authorities were "still actively investigating leads" and working with Fake to acquire digital devices and other items belonging to Butterfield "that could have information."
Schermerhorn said they "do not have any reason to believe there is foul play" or "anything criminal" related to Butterfield's disappearance.
Stewart Butterfield and Fake were married from 2001 until 2007, the New York Post reported, and sold Flickr to Yahoo in 2005 for an estimated $30 million.
Their divorce was finalized in 2007, the same year Butterfield was born, according to the Post.
Correction: April 26, 2024 — An earlier version of this story described Mint Butterfield as the child of "tech billionaires." Only her father, Stewart Butterfield, is known to be a billionaire.
Many Americans may not have enough money for retirement.
The Image Bank/Getty Images
Americans say they don't have enough money for retirement, with a solid chunk having no savings at all.
It's part of a growing retirement crisis, where many can't afford to throw in the towel.
At the same time, the economy is about to see the "peak boomer" generation retire and deplete their savings.
Pam Tourangeau said at 68, she doesn't have a big nest egg.
She's still working part-time as a therapist but said she's slowing down: "Fatigue is a big part of getting older."
She remembered that her ex-father-in-law had a large pension when he retired — a practice that's far more uncommon these days. As the Congressional Research Service found, defined contribution plans, which are retirement plans like 401(k)s that rely on employee contributions and are subject to market fluctuations, began to overtake defined benefit plans, which include pensions, in the mid-1980s.
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"They don't do that anymore," she said. She feels like boomers have gotten stuck in a generation gap — too young to receive pensions but too old to really be part of the tech boom.
"I was just doing all the love, peace, and let's be happy kind of thing. But money wasn't our focus," she said. "Now, all of a sudden, it's become a problem."
Tourangeau is part of a generation of older Americans who don't feel confident in their financial situation. It means the retirement crisis could get worse.
On Wednesday, AARP released the results of a January survey delving into retirement outlooks for Americans aged 50 and above. It found that many of them are not feeling confident with their finances. Particularly, one in five older Americans surveyed reported having no retirement savings, and over half of them do not think they'll have enough money to keep them afloat in retirement.
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Inflation is straining their finances even more — according to the survey results, 37% of aged 50 and older respondents were worried about affording basic expenses like housing and groceries, with 70% worried that everyday prices are rising faster than income. With all those economic stressors, 26% of older people not currently retired say they never expect to retire.
"Every adult in America deserves to retire with dignity and financial security," Indira Venkateswaran, AARP Senior Vice President of Research, said in a statement. "Yet far too many people lack access to retirement savings options and this, coupled with higher prices, is making it increasingly hard for people to choose when to retire."
"Everyday expenses continue to be the top barrier to saving more for retirement, and some older Americans say that they never expect to retire," Venkateswaran added.
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Many older Americans are still working. While the US civilian labor force level for those 55 and older is high, the labor force participation rate for those 55 and older has continued to be lower than the pre-pandemic rate in February 2020. Any of those who leave the workforce to retire may need to rely on any retirement savings they have built.
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Still, only a small share of older Americans not retired said they and their spouse or partner will need less than $50,000 for retirement.
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During a Wednesday briefing, Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive vice president and chief advocacy & engagement officer, told reporters that the survey "should be a wake-up call for every adult, young or old, as well as policymakers at both federal and state levels." She referenced a few legislative initiatives AARP supports that would bolster retirement security for older adults, including the bipartisan Retirement Savings for Americans Act, allowing the government to match contributions into savings accounts for low- and middle-income workers.
"We know that Americans are far more likely to save for retirement when they can do it through this kind of work-based option," LeaMond said.
That new data comes as the country is gearing up for an onslaught of retiring peak boomers. Those are Americans born between 1959 and 1964, who will begin turning 65 this year; they're the last boomers to enter retirement and the biggest boomer cohort to start throwing in the towel.
An analysis of Federal Reserve and University of Michigan Health and Retirement study data by Alliance for Lifetime Income's Retirement Income Institute found that just over half of the peak boomer population have $250,000 or less in assets. That means that many will likely run through their savings, and have to depend on Social Security to stay afloat — a benefit that's already potentially imperiled, with Social Security only having enough money to continue paying out full benefits for the next decade.
Former US President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he arrives to attend his trial in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City.
DAVE SANDERS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump wished his wife, Melania Trump, a very happy birthday.
He gave the message to the cameras moments before entering the courtroom for his hush-money trial.
He did not address why Melania hasn't attended the trial to show support.
It's better than a Hallmark greeting card.
In front of television cameras and a gaggle of journalists, former President Donald Trump wished his wife, Melania Trump, a very happy birthday Friday morning, moments before he entered the courtroom for his criminal hush-money trial.
"I want to start by wishing my wife Melania a very happy birthday," he told reporters in the downtown Manhattan courthouse hallway. "It'd be nice to be with her, but I'm at a courthouse for a rigged trial."
Trump is spending the day in Manhattan's criminal court, where he's on trial for charges alleging that he falsified business documents to disguise payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The purpose of the cover-up, according to prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office, was to keep the adult film actress quiet ahead of the 2016 presidential election about an affair she says she had with him years earlier.
"She's in Florida," Trump said of his wife. "I'll be going there this evening after this case finishes up. This horrible, unconstitutional case, when it finishes up."
The former president spoke to the press surrounded by his lawyers and a mix of aides, including Jason Miller, Boris Epshteyn, and Waltine Nauta.
This week, jurors have been hearing testimony from David Pecker, an executive at the media company that owned the National Enquirer. Pecker used the tabloid to arrange "catch and kill" deals that kept Daniels — as well as Karen McDougal, another woman who says she had an affair with Trump — from telling their stories to other people. The trial is expected to last another month.
On Friday morning, Trump also commented on Thursday's Supreme Court hearing, where the justices appeared poised to formally recognize that presidents have some form of criminal immunity — though not necessarily in a way that would scuttle some of the charges against him.
Trump said he listened to the arguments Thursday night, after his court day in Manhattan, and "thought it was really great."
"I thought the judges' questions were great," Trump said. "All presidents have to have immunity. This has nothing to do with me, absolutely nothing. All presidents have to have immunity, or you don't have a president."
He also complained about the chill in the 15th-floor Manhattan courtroom.
"We have another day in court in a freezing courthouse. It's very cold in there. On purpose, I believe," Trump said. "They don't seem to be able to get the temperature up. It shouldn't be that complicated. But we have a freezing courthouse, and that's fine – that's just fine."
The US economy could see a surge in growth as more people start to take GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
Goldman Sachs predicted that US GDP could jump by 1% if 60 million Americans took a GLP-1 drug.
Goldman Sachs also said that "poor health imposes significant economic costs."
The more people who take GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, the faster the US economy could grow, a Goldman Sachs analyst said in a note last month.
The US GDP could grow by an extra 1% if 60 million Americans took GLP-1 drugs by 2028, Jan Hatzius, the chief economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote.
Hatzius said health-related problems keep people from participating in the labor force and inhibit economic growth. Obesity increases the risk of serious health problems, including heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes.
"Combining current losses in hours worked and labor force participation from sickness and disability, early deaths, and informal caregiving, we estimate that GDP would potentially be over 10% higher if poor health outcomes did not limit labor supply in the US," Hatzius said.
"The main reason we see meaningful upside from healthcare innovation is that poor health imposes significant economic costs. There are several channels through which poor health weighs on economic activity that could diminish if health outcomes improve," Hatzius said.
GLP-1 drugs from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Company are sold under the brand names Ozempic and Mounjaro to treat type 2 diabetes, and under the names Wegovy and Zepbound to treat obesity.
Sales of the drugs have exploded, with some users seeing drastic weight loss of up to 20%. A study released in August found that patients who took Wegovy for weight loss reduced their risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular death by 20%.
And with the US obesity rate hovering at around 40%, tens of millions of Americans could be prescribed GLP-1 drugs over the next few years, but just how many will depend on the outcome of clinical trials on these drugs and whether health insurers will cover them.
"If GLP-1 usage ultimately increases by this amount and results in lower obesity rates, we see scope for significant spillovers to the broader economy," Hatzius said.
One spillover effect could be an increase in productivity, Hatzius said, citing academic studies that found obese individuals are less likely to work and to be less productive at work
"These estimates therefore suggest that obesity-related health complications subtract over 3% from per-capita output, implying an over 1% hit to total output when combined with the over 40% incidence of obesity in the US population," Hatzius said.
And if there are more productivity gains via improved health outcomes, the impact on GDP growth in excess of its current trend could be between 0.6% and 3.2%.
"Historically, health advancements have lowered the number of life years lost to disease and disability by 10% per decade in DM economies, and we estimate that a 10-year step forward in health progress in excess of current trends could raise the level of US GDP by 1%," Hatzius said.
Goldman Sachs
This story was originally published in March 2024.
President Donald Trump announces Federal Reserve board member Jerome Powell as his nominee for the next chair of the Federal Reserve in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Allies of former president Trump are drafting plans to chip away at the independence of the Fed, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump has not publicly acknowledged the plan, but sources said it has his blessing.
The plan also suggests Trump could fire Jerome Powell before his term ends in 2026.
Donald Trump's allies have secretly mapped out a plan to give the Republican candidate more control over the Federal Reserve if he wins a second term, a move that would chip away at the long-standing independence of the US central bank, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
A group of the former president's associates and supporters have been busy in recent months drafting a 10-page manifesto plotting policy shifts and suggesting that the presidential candidate should have a say in the interest-rate setting process, a suggestion that even caught some of Trump's former economic advisors off guard, sources told the Journal.
Sources said the group also thinks the Treasury Department should have more power to keep an eye on the Fed, and if Donald Trump takes office again, he would be able to fire Jerome Powell as Fed chair even before Powell's term is up in 2026.
The former president handpicked Powell to lead the US central bank in 2017, but he has since publicly lambasted the central bank chief. In February, Trump slammed Powell and accused him of trying to help President Joe Biden win reelection in November by turning dovish on monetary policy.
Though Trump hasn't acknowledged the plan publicly, sources told the Journal they reckon the plan has his blessing, with his senior advisors clarifying that the plan shouldn't be treated as official unless Trump says so directly.
The Journal said Trump has expressed his desire for easing monetary policy and his frustration for not being able to impact it while he was in office. He also led casual discussions with his advisors and associates about potential candidates to take over as the head of the central bank.
The idea of making the Fed less independent has faced backlash, even from former Trump administration officials.
Republican Senator Kevin Cramer told the Journal that maintaining the central bank's independence in setting policy is "critical to doing it in an unbiased, nonpolitical way," adding that he'd oppose any attempts to hurt the Fed's autonomy.
A Patriot air defense system test-fired during a training in Chania, Greece, on November 8, 2017.
Anthony Sweeney/US Army
Greece's prime minister said his country cannot give Ukraine its Patriots due to security concerns.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his country needs them to protect its own airspace.
Ukraine has spent months begging its allies for Patriots to help fend off Russian attacks.
One of Ukraine's European allies is refusing to hand over Patriot air-defense systems because it says it needs them to protect its own airspace.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister of Greece, said in an interview with Greek news outlet Iefimerida that his country would not provide Patriots or S-300 missile systems to Ukraine.
"Greece has supported Ukraine in various ways, including defense means," he told the outlet on Thursday, per a translation by Ukrainska Pravda.
"However, from the very beginning, we stated that we cannot give out defense systems that are crucial for our deterrence capabilities," Mitsotakis said.
Athens has supplied Kyiv with thousands of rockets, explosives, infantry vehicles, high-explosive incendiaries, ammunition, and anti-tank rockets since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, per Reuters.
A breakthrough seemed possible last month when the NATO country was reportedly considering sending Ukraine its Russian-made S-300 air defense missiles, if it was able to obtain US-made MIM-104 Patriots, according to Greek media.
An exchange deal with the US to replace either a Patriot system based in Athens or a Soviet-era S-300 system stationed on the island of Crete also looked likely, Greek media reported in recent days, per Politico.
But Mitsotakis seems to pull back on that during Thursday's interview.
"The air defense systems you mentioned are critical for protecting Greece's airspace and will not be provided to Ukraine," he said.
Greece has long been at odds with Turkey, with the two neighbors coming close to military conflict in 1987 and 1996. Bothsides have accused the other of violating their airspace in recent years.
Ukraine is desperate for air defenses to help it counter Russian attacks.
Earlier this month, its foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told The Washington Post that his team had identified over 100 Patriot air-defense systems that they believed its allies could spare.
He said they'd identified four European and Asian countries with Patriots that could be immediately sent to Ukraine, without naming the countries.
The author, left, takes the train to high school every day.
Courtesy of Teddy Almond & Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Four years ago, I started commuting to my high school — which is an hour away — by train.
Sometimes the commute got difficult, especially when trains were delayed or canceled.
But I learned how to be independent; I'm taking this real-life experience with me to college.
I hadn't thought about how cushy life was in grade school when my father drove me 10 minutes to school every morning.
But that ended when I started high school at The Hudson School, which is 25 miles away from my home in Madison, New Jersey.
Unlike the schools around me, The Hudson School offers an urban campus and an extremely small class size — only 26 people in my grade. When I learned it also offers courses not found in a traditional high school curriculum, such as Ancient Greek and military history, I knew it was right for me.
But with it being so far from my home, I have to travel every day to and from school via New Jersey Transit. It takes me a little under an hour to get to school and up to 75 minutes to get home.
Now that I'm a high school senior, I look back fondly on my four-year commute. I learned a lot on those trains — but not all of it was great.
When I first started commuting to school, it was nerve-racking
I thought I knew what I was getting myself into on that first day of freshman year — but after waking up at 6 a.m. and planning to make a 6:45 train, I realized that I would have to make some changes. I started to adjust my routine: I packed my backpack the night before so it was ready to go in the morning, and I ate my breakfast on the train.
Right off the bat, my parents were concerned about me getting on and getting off the train in the dark — not to mention the discomfort of being surrounded by strangers every time I rode the train because this was the fall of 2020, and COVID was still very much a concern.
Meanwhile, I realized I was on my own for the first time. I had to make sure to have my tickets ready and deal with difficult conductors. In the beginning, I was nervous.
But I quickly got into the swing of things that first year and learned to enjoy my commute. Four years later, those commute jitters are long gone.
I learned real-life experiences from a young age
It didn't take long before I developed a routine and became familiar with the ins and outs of navigating trains, and I found that I could even sit with some friends from school who also commuted.
At first, I felt I was wasting valuable time just sitting on the train, so I soon started using my time productively by completing my homework. Because of this, I have learned to work in almost any environment.
I also learned a whole new set of skills. I have to ensure I have my tickets ready every morning and that I am on the right track for my train — little things that I hadn't really had to worry about before.
Additionally, I had to think on my feet and learned how to handle the unexpected. I know which stations offer transfers, so if I missed my connection, I knew where I can catch a different train. I also have learned to read a timetable, which came in handy when I was in Europe last summer.
But commuting every day isn't always easy
Commuting did take a toll on my social life. Some of my classmates didn't live so far from the school, so they didn't have to worry about a long commute. They were able to stay in Hoboken and hang out. Whenever I joined them, I had to keep the train schedules in my mind. The longer I hung out, the later I would get home, cutting into my homework and study time.
Commuting by train also means inherent mechanical issues. There have been days when it has taken me hours to get to school. It can get exhausting and draining; there are some days when I wish I could just get home as quickly as my peers who live in Hoboken and not have to deal with mass transit.
Plus, there have been times when I needed to get to school on time — for a big project or test — and then my train would suddenly get canceled or experience a delay. On those days, I struggled the most and had to get creative. Sometimes, I had to rent a bike to finish the commute. Other times, I had to get to another station to catch a faster train.
I imagined how much easier it would be if I were a regular high school student who took the bus to school.
Still, I'm glad I got to commute 25 miles every day before heading off to college
Looking back at the past four years, I realize commuting has helped prepare me for the real world — outside high school.
Now that I am about to head off to college, I feel that these experiences have helped me learn lessons about time management and problem-solving that I might otherwise not have learned.
It may have been a struggle at times, but I know that it was all worth it for the education I got in the end.
China's President Xi Jinping (right) speaks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 26, 2024.
MARK SCHIEFELBEIN via Getty Images
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met China's Xi Jinping in Beijing Friday.
The pair remain at loggerheads over issues including the economy, national security, and Ukraine.
Xi told Blinken that the US should avoid "vicious competition" with China.
Ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's meeting with China's leader, Xi Jinping, China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, had a stark warning.
There was a risk, he said, that US-China relations could "return to a downward spiral."
US cooperation with China had increased in some areas, he added, but "on the other hand, negative factors in Sino-US relations are still rising and accumulating", according to Chinese state media.
China's relationship with the US has been under serious strain in recent years. From Ukraine to the Middle East, TikTok to trade, the superpowers remain at loggerheads on various issues.
A US military chief in March warned that China is engaging in the biggest military build-up since World War II and could be preparing an attack on Taiwan that risks direct military confrontation with the US.
The independent island is the main flash point between Washington and Beijing, with the US signaling that it would help defend it from China, which has long sought to bring it under its control.
As such, the US-China relationship appears to have entered a dangerous period, and time may be running out to save it.
Smoothing relations
There are reasons to be hopeful that the superpowers can remain on good terms. In recent months, there have been signs that both nations are keen to reduce tensions.
In his meeting with Blinken Friday, Xi struck a conciliatory tone, saying that the US and China should be "partners, not rivals" and avoid engaging in "vicious competition."
China's economy, after decades of growth, is in a property market-fuelled crisis, with foreign investment down, consumer spending low, and unemployment spiking.
Analysts say that Xi is keen to smooth ties with the West to secure the flow of US cash and retain access to crucial markets in Western Europe.
While tensions are growing, both sides seem to want to avoid a potentially catastrophic confrontation.
"Secretary Blinken's meetings in China underscored both the continuation of the tactical thaw in bilateral relations and the accumulation of fundamental stresses," Ali Wyne, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, told Business Insider.
He said that technological rivalry and Taiwan tensions "are poised to intensify," and the two countries remain "far apart" over the Russia-Ukraine war."
"If there is a silver lining, it is that the deterioration of US-China relations is now occurring in a more predictable, controlled manner than it was a year earlier."
China's red lines
As well as expressing a desire for improved relations with the US, China's foreign minister, Wang, warned the US Thursday against crossing China's "red lines."
Serious tensions on a range of issues remain as China intensifies its bid to dent US global power.
China is escalating its support for Russia's military industry, according to the US, which says it is providing crucial components for weapons used to attack Ukraine.
The US has handed Ukraine billions in aid and military support to resist the invasion, with a new $61 billion bill passing this week.
Blinken said he raised concerns about China's support for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Ahead of the meeting, reports said that the US could seek to sanction Chinese banks for facilitating China's trade in technological parts with Russia.
China denied the accusation and previously accused NATO of stoking the war in Ukraine.
A US aid package this week contained $8 billion in support for Taiwan amid escalating fears of a Chinese invasion, drawing criticism from Beijing that accused the US of a dangerous provocation.
On trade, there are further tensions, with a US law this week meaning that Chinese-owned video site TikTok could be forced to sell or be banned in the US amid concerns over the security of user data.
Despite attempts to stabilize relations, serious challenges remain.
"The trend for this year has been more engagement, more communications, but not more trust," Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of the political-risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told Bloomberg TV this week.
Blinken will have to overcome several hurdles for US-China relations to improve.