Thucydides Trap 2026: Will the US and China Really Go to War? The Harvard Theory Explaining the Trump-Xi Showdown

A 2,500-year-old Greek warning has become the most quoted idea in Beijing and Washington. Harvard's Graham Allison studied 500 years of history and found that when a rising power meets a ruling one, war breaks out 12 times out of 16. Today it's China and America — and the May 2026 Trump-Xi summit just raised the stakes. Are we case number thirteen?















