04/06/2017

CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump and Xi Jinping, the president of China, will take each other’s measure on Thursday [4-6-17] as they meet for the first time to discuss trade tensions, North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and other issues.
The two men will spend about 24 hours together at Mr. Trump’s beachside Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, in what officials from both countries expect will be a public demonstration of respect as the adversaries seek to build a working relationship.
But behind closed doors, American officials said, the president intends to aggressively press his counterpart to more effectively use China’s economic leverage on North Korea to restrain its rogue leader, Kim Jong-un, from developing nuclear weapons.
And while American officials played down the prospect of substantive discussions on trade, Mr. Trump is expected to privately repeat the tough statements he often makes on Twitter about the United States’ trade deficit with China, which has swelled to more than $300 billion a year.”

-Michael D. Shear and Mark Lander, “Trump and Xi’s First Meeting: How Long Will the Cordiality Last?,” April 6, 2017