After talks, Chinese region sees risks to trade, US visits
BEIJING — After repeatedly bashing China on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping for the first time last week at Trump’s Florida estate.
In speeches, Trump had labeled Beijing a “tremendous problem,” accusing it of unfairly manipulating its currency and trying to “rape our country” with unfair trade policies. Shortly after his election, he upended decades of diplomatic precedent by taking a call from the president of Taiwan and suggested he might use the island China considers its own territory as a bargaining chip in China-U.S. relations.
Since taking office, however, Trump has endorsed the “One China” policy that has underwritten U.S. relations with China for decades and backed off on his threats to impose a 45 per cent import tax on Chinese goods and formally declare China a currency manipulator.
While in Florida, Xi said the two delegations established a good working relationship, and Trump told reporters that he and Xi made “tremendous progress” in their talks, but neither leader was specific. Observers said the meeting appeared to indicate Trump recognized the importance of keeping ties stable between the world’s two largest economies.