What to watch during the meeting of Trump and Xi

The presidents of the United States and China will make their first summit in Florida on Thursday and Friday. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will discuss everything from trade to North Korea's nuclear threat.

Mr Trump has made North Korea his most pressing national security issue after Barack Obama warned him about the progress Pyongyang had made towards being able to hit the US with a nuclear-armed missile. Mr Trump told the FT he would urge Mr Xi to put more pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear programme but said he was prepared to act unilaterally. One US official said Mr Xi’s response would be “in some ways a test of the relationship” between Washington and Beijing.

North Korea fired a missile into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday ahead of the summit — in a similar way that it tested a missile while Mr Trump was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago in February. On Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry said there was “no connection” between the latest missile test and the Florida summit. China has consistently tried to position itself as an “honest broker” between Pyongyang and Washington, likening them to two trains racing towards a collision.

Mr Trump talked tough about China and trade during his campaign. But he has so far not followed through on his threat to declare China a “currency manipulator” and to slap punitive tariffs on Chinese imports, suggesting that less hawkish members of his administration have convinced him not to launch a trade war at the start of his first term. Mr Trump told the FT he wanted China to cut its tariffs but would not raise the issue in their first summit.

Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary, has hinted that tough new measures are needed to combat what Washington sees as unfair trade practices. In an effort to forestall trade friction, Mr Xi could promise more Chinese investment in US infrastructure and manufacturing. But while Chinese investment in the US more than tripled last year to $45bn, the vast majority came from private sector entrepreneurs.

Source: Financial Times

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