Donald Trump is about to spend 24 hours with China’s President Xi Jinping. This is the first time that these two, who are arguably the two most powerful people on the planet, meet in person. Trump has invited Xi to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach where they will be drinking tea, eating dinner together as well as discussing business. Trump has hosted many world leaders at Mar-a-Lago as he believes it is a more relaxed and informal place to meet, therefore, making it easier for Trump and the visiting leader to get know each other.
However, him choosing Mar-a-Lago has raised some eyebrows since Trump has previously criticized Obama for being too welcoming of Xi after he held a big state dinner for Xi the last time that he visited. Last August Trump said that he’d “…get him a McDonald’s hamburger and I’d say we gotta get down to work, because you can’t continue to devalue (the Chinese currency),” His approach to Xi and diplomacy has thankfully evolved since August last year thanks to some of his more moderate advisors, who strongly urged Trump to be courteous and cooperative with Xi.
This meeting will shape the relationship between the U.S. and China for years to come
The biggest and most important topic discussed is likely going to be Trade. Not only is it one of Trump’s core issues in general, but the trade with China is a matter that he feels particularly strong about. He has stated that China is “raping” the United States and that “They China want our people to starve — they’re taking our business away. They’ve taken our jobs away.”
The talks on trade are likely to focus on the trade deficit that currently exists between the two countries due to the U.S. buying substantially more products from China than they sell. This is something that Trump has made it clear that he won’t let continue. The U.S. exports products for $116 billion which isn’t much in comparison to the value of all imports, which land at a staggering $463 billion. Resulting in the largest trade deficit that the U.S. has with any of its other trading partners.
While Trump has both promised and, of course, tweeted many grand statements about China, U.S. officials have been trying to tone down the expectations for this meeting. One U.S. official told Reuters “I don’t expect a grand bargain on trade. I think what you are going to see is that the president makes very clear to Xi and publicly what we expect on trade,” This makes sense as trade is immensely complicated and the leaders are only meeting in a mostly informal setting for 24 hours.
Another big point of contention between these to powerful leaders is North Korea and like with any other important and complicated international issue Trump has, naturally, tweeted about it.
North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been "playing" the United States for years. China has done little to help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017
This meeting is coming at a critical time as North Korea tested a ballistic missile just two days ago. The increase in missile test is something that worries not only Trump but also the U.S.’ close ally Japan, whose Prime Minister Trump spoke with as recent as yesterday. Trump will likely argue that Xi and China should impose economic sanctions on North Korea, which is something that the U.S. is considering as well since it comes with fewer risks than military intervention. If China doesn’t agree to impose sanctions of their own, the U.S. might choose to impose sanctions on Chinese companies and people who trade with North Korea. For obvious reasons, this could be met with dislike from Xi.
Some other topics that the two leaders will discuss Chinas territorial claims to Islands in the South China Sea and Climate Change. Even though this meeting seems to be more of a meet and greet than an in-depth policy negotiation it will still be interesting to see what they discuss and how these two very different individuals get along. What is certain is that this is the most important meeting of Trump presidency so far and will be a test of whether or not he can truly be as tough on China as he has promised.
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