Trump: U.S., China ‘right back on track’
OSAKA, Japan — President Trump declared relations with China were “right back on track” after he and President Xi Jinping sought Saturday to deescalate a prolonged trade war between the economic powerhouses despite doubts about either’s willingness to compromise.
Taking place on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Japan, the meeting was the centerpiece of four days of diplomacy for Trump, whose reelection chances have been put at risk by the trade war that has hurt American farmers and battered global markets. Negotiations collapsed last month and both sides levied intensifying eyeforaneye punishments.
Both leaders struck a cautiously optimistic tone after greeting each other and posing for photos.
“We’ve had an excellent relationship,” Trump told Xi as the meeting opened, “but we want to do something that will even it up with respect to trade.”
Xi, for his part, recounted the era of “pingpong diplomacy,” which helped jumpstart U.S.China relations two generations ago. Since then, he said, “one basic fact remains unchanged: China and the United States both benefit from cooperation and lose in confrontation.”
The meeting with Xi was one of three Trump lined up Saturday with world leaders displaying authoritarian tendencies.
Trump had his first facetoface sitdown with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Bin Salman since the U.S. intelligence concluded that the crown prince directed the grisly murder of Washington Post columnist, and American resident, Jamal Khashoggi last year. And he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an ostensible NATO ally whom the U.S. sees as drifting dangerously toward Russia’s sphere of influence.
Meeting with the Saudi crown prince, Trump praised his “friend” for taking steps to open the kingdom and extend freedoms to Saudi women.
Trump, however, ignored reporters’ questions about Mohammed’s alleged role in Khashoggi’s death. A U.N. expert has called for an investigation into Mohammed’s alleged involvement in the killing at the Saudi consulate in Turkey last year.
Both of those meetings come the day after Trump, with a smirk, dryly told Russia’s Vladimir Putin, “Don’t meddle with the election” in their first meeting since the special counsel concluded that Russia extensively interfered with the 2016 campaign.
Also on Saturday, Trump issued a Twitter invitation to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to join him for a handshake during a visit to the demilitarized zone with South Korea.