Peter Hartcher's Trump–Xi question draws ten times the Herald's usual first day
The international editor's look at what happened when the two leaders met at the White House passed 41,000 views in 23 hours, in a week the papers' channel otherwise gave to grand final football and interest rates.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The AgeStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 41,581 views a day, 10 times a normal first day on this channel (4,007).
Did Trump offer arms to Xi Jinping? What happened on the White House tour
Foreign policy won out. "Did Trump offer arms to Xi Jinping? What happened on the White House tour" had passed 41,000 views 23 hours after it went up on the shared channel of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. A new video there usually finds about 4,000 viewers in its first day.
The guide is Peter Hartcher, the papers' international and political editor, who has spent years writing about China's rise and what it means for Australia. The description sets up the surprise. When the leaders of the world's two biggest economies meet, the usual agenda is military build-up, trade, critical minerals and AI. Hartcher says that is not what happened when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met last week. He walks through moments that, in his reading, could signal a startling break with decades of American policy, and the description points to his column arguing that Trump's approach emboldens China.
The comment section filled faster than usual, at more than twice a normal first day's count. Much of it turns to a single line about three and a half minutes in, where Hartcher describes the system Xi runs. Many viewers ask where that description comes from.
The channel's overall day stayed close to normal. Beside the summit piece, it posted footage of crowds celebrating the Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights before Sunday's NRL grand final, and a podcast on the Reserve Bank's rate rise.
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- Subscribers
- 268,000
- Channel views, pace per day
- 112,451 (on a normal day: 113,965)
- Video published
- October 1, 2026
- Video views so far
- 41,140 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 41,581
The numbers
One analysis video ran far ahead of the channel's usual start, while the channel's total daily views held at their normal level.
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The Age, which shares this channel with The Sydney Morning Herald, is published in which city?
The Age has been Melbourne's daily newspaper since it was founded there in 1854.
