We can exploit Xi’s fear to gain leverage — and maybe to chip away at Chinese nationalism just a little bit — with three steps.

First, raise China’s blocking of outside news sites and social media platforms as a trade issue before the World Trade Organization. In a new book, “Schism,” about China and global trade, Paul Blustein explains how the U.S. could join with other countries to make such a trade case based on the W.T.O. agreement. Trade experts aren’t sure the case would succeed, but it’s worth trying.

A second step the United States should take is to invest more in internet circumvention technologies to help ordinary Chinese vault the Great Chinese Firewall and read uncensored news. The U.S. spends more than $700 million a year on broadcast programs to sometimes-obscure parts of the world, but only tiny sums to help citizens of closed countries access the free internet.

Richard Stengel, a former under secretary of state who was involved in these programs, told me that he generally agreed that the U.S. should invest more in circumvention technologies. “It aligns with American values,” he said. “I’d be in favor.”

Some American officials I’ve spoken with worry that this would enrage Xi. Yes, it might. Frankly, it’s also not clear that many Chinese want to access the outside internet, for they don’t much use tools like Ultrasurf and Psiphon that already enable them to do so (with a bit of difficulty).

Those are fair concerns, but I worry even more about the rise of nationalism in China inculcated in part by the Communist Party’s education system and propaganda machine. I’ve seen over the decades how a freer flow of information eventually can liberate minds and peoples, and the world would be better off if that process unfolded in China.