Mind the Gap | Trump needs his best sales skills for summit with Xi Jinping
Tillerson paves way for first meeting between Xi and Trump
A year and a half ago, when Donald Trump descended from his golden escalator into the gold-leafed lobby of Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president, a reporter asked him if he was capable of dealing with China.
“Sure,” he answered, “last week I sold a $15 million condominium to someone from China.”
President Trump is going to need to marshal his best condo selling talent for his summit with China’s President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in April.
Diplomats are still struggling to finalise the details especially as the North Korea problem is worsening. It could conflate trade discussions especially if North Korea decides to test launch more missiles during their dinner.
Almost every trade and security issue appears to yield a zero sum game outcome. The first five minutes of their face-to-face meeting will determine if any personal rapport exists between the two men. President Xi should be prepared to order Chinese take out because this summit may not last long enough to have dinner.
Chinese statements suggest that the US needs access to China’s market in order to grow. Trump believes that China needs access to the US market more than the US needs China. Yet both sides are economically fragile
The risk of tariff escalation and a protracted trade conflict is high because both leaders appear to believe they hold the stronger cards in the US-China trade relationship.
