Trump ordered Syrian air strike before dinner with Xi

US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday agreed to manage their differences based on mutual respect.

But that argument significantly weakened this week when the government reported that the USA trade deficit fell sharply in February compared with the previous month.

He said he thinks China will “want to be stepping up” in trying to deter North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Trump repeatedly bashed China on the campaign trail and upon taking office, blaming it for the loss of American jobs, reported Politico news.

The two leaders were joined Thursday evening by US First Lady Melania Trump, a former model, and Peng Liyuan – a celebrated folk singer Trump hailed as a “great, great celebrity”. Trump has accused China of “raping” the USA and argued that it has engaged in trade abuses to gain an advantage over the US. “We have additional options ready to go”.

Trump added that China has achieved great success in its development under the leadership of President Xi, and has won the respect of the worldwide community.

North Korea promised to be, along with trade, the most neuralgic issue.

Xi is seeking to portray strength and maintain stability in a year that will see key Communist Party leaders replaced at a time economic growth slows the most in decades.

“The fact that Taiwan was not on the agenda was the best we could have hoped for”, National Taiwan Normal University political science professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said.

Another effect of Trump’s shift on Syria has been a strikingly tougher tone from his administration on Russian Federation.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Trump will travel to China at an “early date” in 2017, but gave no details.

The Trump White House worries Pyongyang is just months away from marrying nuclear and long-range missile technology and putting the west coast of the United States within striking distance. “The handshake looks very gentle”, one user wrote.

But in a sign that rough spots remained, Tillerson afterwards described the discussions as “very frank and candid”.

“I do think it necessarily sends a signal to Xi Jinping that this is a president that means business”, Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Guardian, adding, “It will play into how China will view Trump”.

During the dinner, Trump praised Xi and his wife. Trump could be seen chatting and gesturing to Xi, who did the same.

Trump and Xi might have seemed cordial toward each other at a banquet on Friday, but it was about the same time that Trump attacked Syrian military facilities, which was “embarrassing” for Xi, because China has spoken against USA military intervention in Syria, Fan said. However, when the two presidents met in Florida during the early hours in China, there was nearly no reporting at all.

The U.S. officials said Russian commanders in Syria were informed of the strike beforehand in order to avoid casualties that could prompt a broader crisis.

The angry reaction to the Syria strikes from some of his strongest campaign supporters showed that they expected him to fulfill promises to stay out of Syria.

The two leaders discussed trade at dinner – one of the major issues to be addressed during the summit.

Trump is right that President Barack Obama issued what amounted to an empty threat of military action. In fact, the Chinese renminbi has actually strengthened 0.83% against the USA dollar so far this year (as of April 4, 2017). The strikes were retaliation against Syrian President Bashar Assad for a chemical weapons attack against civilians caught up in his country’s long civil war.

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

North Korea’s saber-rattling comes as no surprise since the country has a habit of threatening to bomb the United States and its allies.

For example: Trump’s acceptance of Xi’s invitation to China.

“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically”, Trump stated Thursday evening, suggesting that a new approach is needed.