HMM: Better ties with the U.S. may be about one thing: China’s struggling economy.

The economic headwinds come as China is actively courting overseas investors, even as U.S. and other foreign companies complain about an increasingly uncertain atmosphere.

A slew of U.S. business leaders have visited China in recent months, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday.

“You’re the first American friend I’ve met in Beijing this year,” Xi told Gates, according to state media. Without giving details, the Chinese leader said China and the U.S. could both benefit from cooperation.

Beijing’s economic problems may give it greater impetus to stabilize its relationship with Washington, including during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China on Sunday and Monday.

Improving U.S. ties could help China “generate more confidence among foreign investors and among domestic investors because geopolitical risks are indeed a major concern among everybody in the markets,” Sun said.

Beijing’s problem is that Xi Jinping’s incessant meddling in the economy has scared off investors. To distract from his economic failures, Xi turned to an increasingly aggressive foreign policy, which is scaring off his most important export market.

There’s a fix for that but it involves not being ruled by Communists.

Exit Question: How unsurprised were you to learn that Xi and Bill Gates are so chummy?