US president Donald Trump will meet with China’s premier Xi Jinping this week for the first time since moving into the White House.
The Republican president will host Xi Jinping at the Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida and there is much international concern over what will arise from the meetings of the two states, not least because during the campaign for the White House, Trump accused China of “raping our country”.
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1. North Korea’s nuclear capabilities are top of the agenda
In an interview with the Financial Times, the US president has said the growing threat of North Korea’s nuclear programme will be discussed with Jinping this week. He also warned that China needs to increase pressure on Kim Jong Un to eliminate the nuclear threat or the US will take unilateral action.
China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t. if they do, that will be very good for China and if they don’t, it won’t be good for anyone,” said Trump.
2. Trade is going to be a difficult conversation
During the presidential campaign, Trump took a strong position against Chinese trade. However, the bilateral relations between the two countries is an important issue for Trump to get right, as it has been for other US presidents.
Despite Trump saying he will assert his dominance during the campaign, he may back down on this during the talks in order to preserve US economic interests.
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By GlobalData…and job losses. American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017
3. The US-China trade deficit
Last week, Trump signed two new executive orders to identify the causes that have caused massive trade deficits in the country, as part of his pledge to combat the flow of unfairly traded imports in the US.
In particular, Trump has accused China of carrying out competitive currency devaluation to stimulate exports, something Beijing’s foreign minister has denied.
4. The One China policy
The so-called One China policy was another contentious issue during the campaign, which states that the US recognises and has formal ties with China, rather than the island of Taiwan, according to the BBC.
Trump placed this position in doubt by speaking to the Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen, but allegedly reiterated the administration’s commitment to the policy during a phone call to Xi Jinping.
This meeting will be a chance for Trump to put that pledge into action.
5. The markets are holding steady, for now
Today marks the first trading day of the second quarter and the US market has opened flat.
Investors will be paying close attention to any noises coming out of Washington or Beijing in the run up to the meeting.
Reuters reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 0.06 percent; the S&P 500 moved up 0.03 percent and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.13 percent.
