Trump, Xi prepare for difficult talks on trade, North Korea

US President Donald Trump flew to Florida on Thursday to hold his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, facing pressure to deliver trade concessions for some of his most fervent supporters and prevent a crisis with North Korea from spiralling out of control.

The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies are to greet each other at the president’s Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, late in the afternoon and dine together with their wives, kicking off a summit that will conclude with a working lunch on Friday.

White House officials have set low expectations for the meeting, saying it will set the foundation for future dealings.

Trump promised during the 2016 campaign to stop what he called the theft of American jobs by China and rebuild the country’s manufacturing base. Many blue-collar workers helped propel him to his unexpected election victory on Nov 8 and Trump wants to deliver for them.

The Republican president tweeted last week that the United States could no longer tolerate massive trade deficits and job losses and that his meeting with Xi “will be a very difficult one.”

Trump, a former real estate magnate, is still finding his footing in the White House and has yet to spell out a strategy for what his advisers called a trade relationship based on “the principal of reciprocity.”

“I don’t expect a grand bargain on trade. I think what you are going to see is that the president makes very clear to Xi and publicly what we expect on trade,” a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

US labour leaders say Trump needs to take a direct, unambiguous tone in his talks with Xi.

“President Trump needs to come away from the meeting with concrete deliverables that will restore production and employment here in the US in those sectors that have been ravaged by China’s predatory and protectionist practices,” said Holly Hart, legislative director for the United Steelworkers union.

The US official told Reuters that Washington expects to have to prepare its own actions to fight for US companies, such as pursuing World Trade Organisation lawsuits.

“We have the legal tools and a lot of authorities that have not been exercised in the past to fight back and you now have the political will, from the president on down, to do that,” the official said.

DIFFERING PERSONALITIES

The summit will bring together two leaders who could not seem more different: the often stormy Trump, prone to angry tweets, and Xi, outwardly calm, measured and tightly scripted, with no known social media presence.

What worries the protocol-conscious Chinese more than policy clashes is the risk that the unpredictable Trump could publicly embarrass Xi, after several foreign leaders experienced awkward moments with the new US president.

“Ensuring President Xi does not lose face is a top priority for China,” a Chinese official said.

The most urgent problem facing Trump and Xi is how to persuade nuclear-armed North Korea to halt unpredictable behavior like missile test launches that have heightened tensions in South Korea and Japan.

North Korea is working to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States.

The White House has said North Korea was a test for the US-China relationship, and Trump has threatened to use trade to try to force China to exert influence over Pyongyang.

Beijing says its influence is limited and that it is doing all it can but that it is up to the United States to find a way back to talks with North Korea.

Trump consulted on Wednesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said he and the president agreed by phone that North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch was “a dangerous provocation and a serious threat.”

A White House strategy review is focusing on options for pressuring Pyongyang economically and militarily. Among measures under consideration are “secondary sanctions” against Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with Pyongyang.

“We have not in any way put the kind of sanctions on North Korea that we have the ability to do,” the US administration official said.

“I think there is an understanding here that if you put those types of sanctions on North Korea then the military option is not really necessary,” the official said.

A long-standing option of pre-emptive strikes remains on the table, but despite the tougher recent US talk, the internal review “de-emphasises direct military action,” the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Analysts believe any military action would likely provoke severe North Korean retaliation and massive casualties in South Korea and Japan and among US troops stationed there.