Highlights of White House background briefing on Trump-Xi summit

Active U.S. involvement disincentivizes such cooperation and encourages polarization instead. If North Korea felt safe, and part of the northeast Asian economy, it might begin focusing on its own prosperity, my friend says. “We want to work with the Chinese in a constructive manner to reduce the systemic trade and investment barriers that they’ve created that lead to an uneven playing field for USA companies”.

Some analysts believe Xi might be willing to hand Trump a symbolic victory on trade to put a positive spin on the meeting.

“I would let Pyongyang know in no uncertain terms that it can either get out of the nuclear arms race or expect a rebuke similar to the one Ronald Reagan delivered to Muammar Gadhafi in 1986”, he wrote, referring to the USA bombing of Libya under Reagan’s administration.

The official identified North Korea as an issue where the Administration would like to work together with China.

But despite their differences, when the two leaders sit down at Trump’s luxury club at Mar-a-Lago they will have share one thing that might help them forge common experience – the summit requires both to navigate delicate domestic politics.

Some experts worry that the latest missile launch is a prelude to a major provocation down the road.

“As you know, I’ll be meeting with the president of China very soon in Florida, and that’s another responsibility we have, and that’s called the country of North Korea”, Trump said Wednesday during a Rose Garden press conference with King Abdullah of Jordan.

On the eve of Xi Jinping’s two-day visit to Trump’s Florida getaway of Mar-a-Lago, Japan’s Toshiba Corp. announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection for its US -based Westinghouse nuclear reactor division – leaving the Trump administration having to suddenly scramble to find a buyer within the United States or, at the very least, a friendly foreign investor with some spare cash.

“No matter how hard Beijing tries, it won’t be able to take on all the responsibilities that Washington refuses to take”, the Global Times said in an editorial.

Trump’s political position is far more precarious.

Second, this will likely be a relatively casual meeting, more akin to a summit than a formal state visit. This hour On Point, the US, China, two tough guy leaders, and the meeting in Florida. “And frankly, there is no resolving this peacefully without China”.

However the two leaders spend their time at Trump’s Mar-a Lago club in Palm Beach, “it’s safe to say there’s not going to be any golf”, the White House said in a statement.

“China has great influence over North Korea”. -China relations, it could, in turn, stymie efforts to contain Pyongyang’s unconventional weapons program.

Rhetoric aside, neither Trump, with his saber-rattling, nor Xi, with his cheerleading on globalization, has yet matched talk with action. Trump has called China a currency manipulator, threatened to impose a 45-percent tariff on Chinese imports, and even questioned – though later reaffirmed – the four-decade-old “One China” policy.

Trump’s ambassador to Beijing is not yet physically in place. Then, the US was threatening sanctions unless China stopped commercial cyberthefts.

“Trump is going to be forceful with China over North Korea”.

Essentially, once North Korea’s Kim regime perfects an intercontinental ballistic missile that can strike the U.S. mainland, the US’s military option disappears, and they may be forced to recognize the brutal dictator as a legitimate world leader.

The missile could cover a full range of targets in North Korea if deployed from the southeastern city of Pohang.

At the heart of the shift is an unconventional president who is overturning expectations of what the United States wants, what it says and how it behaves on a global stage.

Both have a long way to come to meet in the middle.

Some long-time Asia experts warn that little of substance is likely to come out of the discussions, partly because the Trump administration hasn’t yet developed the policy expertise to make big decisions.