Trump meets his match

HEAVYWEIGHTS: HISTORIC HIGH-LEVEL TALKS AS XI TRAVELS TO US

Personality clash expected when two presidents meet.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has spent the past four years putting brash, wealthy politicians and businessmen in jail. Now he will have to sit down and negotiate with one.

The first face-to-face meeting between Xi and Donald Trump at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida will be a key test of whether the two leaders can overcome their vast differences and develop a personal bond.

Their contrasting styles – reserved versus blunt, rehearsed versus spontaneous, controlled versus turbulent – could see the pair clash, Hu Xingdou, a Chinese economics professor and expert on corruption, said. Both men have strong characters, Hu said.

Xi is likely to be more “stable” while Trump could prove to be “reckless” on issues such as China’s trade surplus with the US – a constant source of irritation in Washington and an issue that Trump tweeted will make the talks “difficult”.

But there may be more that unites rather than separates them, which could be crucial in striking a personal connection and finding some common ground. “Both Xi and Trump are charismatic and have the traits of a strongman who is not afraid to take risks,” China political analyst Willy Lam said.

Chinese politics expert Cheng Li also highlighted their underreported similarities – bold nationalism paired with a tendency to sideline bureaucracy and prioritise domestic affairs. –