Rapport ‘outstanding’ with Xi, Trump says
Chinese leader: Much ground covered
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump said Friday that he has developed an “outstanding” relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping after meeting with the leader of a nation Trump has criticized as a menace to the United States.
The meeting of the leaders of the world’s two largest economies was largely overshadowed by the U.S. missile strikes on Syria. Those strikes added weight to Trump’s threat last week to act unilaterally against North Korea’s weapons program.
Trump said in a brief appearance before reporters that he and Xi made “tremendous progress” in their first face-to-face talks and that he believes “lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away.”
He did not elaborate on the progress or the problems. But the two days of talks at Trump’s private estate in Florida were expected to focus on what Trump has described as China’s unfair trade practices and inadequate efforts to halt
North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Xi said the delegations covered important topics and have established a good friendship and working relationship. He said he believes that the U.S. and China can continue to develop the relationship, noting that it’s the historic responsibility of both countries to work toward peace and stability.
There were “a thousand reasons” to make the China-U.S. relationship work, with “no reason to break it,” Xi told Trump.
Later Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. and China “agreed to increase cooperation and work with the international community to convince the DPRK to peacefully resolve the issue and abandon its illicit weapons programs.” DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Tillerson said Trump and Xi noted the urgency of the threat of North Korea’s weapons program and that they reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearization of the divided Korean Peninsula.
Tillerson added, “In order for that to happen, North Korea has to change its posture.”
Trump told the Financial Times in the days before Xi’s arrival that he is prepared to go it alone on North Korea if China doesn’t work with the U.S. to crack down on North Korea’s nuclear program
Military options against North Korea are much riskier than those against Syria. North Korea has tested nuclear weapons, and South Korea’s capital, Seoul, is in range of North Korean artillery.
Taking action against North Korea has been a sticking point in U.S. talks with the Chinese. China is North Korea’s most important ally and trading partner.
China has long been fairly confident that the United States would not risk an attack on North Korea, a much more dangerous target than Syria because of its nuclear arsenal and its capacity to hit Japan and South Korea, two U.S. allies, Chinese analysts said. But China’s leaders are still trying to figure out Trump, and his quick decision to strike Syria may cause them to reconsider that assumption.
The visit was overshadowed by the missile barrage aimed at Syria, announced shortly after Trump and Xi wrapped up dinner Thursday night. The strikes were retaliation against Syrian President Bashar Assad for a chemical-weapons attack against civilians caught up in his country’s long civil war.
China has sided with Russia at the United Nations in opposing condemnation of Assad’s government but has not become directly involved in the conflict.
On Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said China opposed the use of chemical weapons by any party under any circumstances but didn’t comment on the U.S. attack.
China long has objected to the idea of unilateral U.S. military action in Syria, saying it prefers a multilateral approach, although over the course of six brutal years of war it has repeatedly used its veto power to vote with Russia against U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria.
At her daily news briefing Friday, Hua reiterated China’s support for a “political settlement” and said it was urgent to prevent any further deterioration of the situation in Syria.
TRADE ISSUES
The White House downplayed expectations for a breakthrough on issues like trade and tariffs, insisting that the 24-hour summit is mostly an introductory meeting for the two leaders.
The two leaders spent Friday in a series of working sessions.
Trump aides who participated in the talks described a productive first meeting between the leaders, saying they exhibited “positive” chemistry. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the two sides agreed to speed up trade talks to help close a lopsided imbalance in China’s favor, a common campaign-trail complaint of Trump’s.
“This may be ambitious, but it’s a big sea change in the pace of discussions,” Ross said. “It’s important symbolism of the growing rapport between the two countries.”
Trump advisers said the goal, at least from the U.S. side, was to increase American exports to China. But they offered no details about how they planned to achieve that.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said there was “acknowledgment” from the Chinese side “that we do need to get to a more balanced trade environment.”
As a candidate and president, Trump has taken an aggressive posture toward China, labeling Beijing a “tremendous problem” and arguing that lopsided trade deals with China shortchange U.S. businesses and workers.
He also last week signed a pair of executive orders focused on reducing the U.S. trade deficit, an apparent shot at China, which accounted for the vast bulk — $347 billion — of last year’s $502 billion trade deficit.
At the end of the summit Friday, Xi departed Florida for a more northern vista, landing in Alaska and requesting time with Gov. Bill Walker during a refueling stop in Alaska’s largest city.
Xi was to take a sightseeing tour, including a stop at Beluga Point, a pullout on the scenic Seward Highway about 15 miles south of Anchorage.
The pullout offers a view of the snow-capped Chugach Mountains and Turnagain Arm in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The waters are home to the endangered Beluga whale.
Walker said he was eager to tell Xi about the abundance of Alaska’s resource development opportunities. “We have tremendous potential in our oil and gas, tourism, fish, air cargo and mineral resource industries,” Walker said in a statement issued before the meeting.