Frail Trump-Xi Truce Highlighted by Pentagon’s Botched Blacklist

When the Pentagon added China’s artificial intelligence champions Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. to a list of companies that aid the Chinese military, investors and policymakers saw it as a sign that Washington wasn’t afraid to challenge Beijing ahead of a planned high-stakes summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

That assumption was upended by what came next. Minutes after releasing the list, the US Federal Register declared it “unpublished” at the Pentagon’s request. Alibaba and Baidu, which both trade in New York, saw their shares tumble that February morning nonetheless, and both issued statements ...