President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have made “tremendous progress” in their discussions on the U.S.-China relationship.
The meeting in Mar-a-Lago has been largely overshadowed by the U.S. strike on Syria Thursday evening; nonetheless, Trump and Xi appear to be moving the ball forward in their talks.
“We had a long discussion already. So far, I have gotten nothing, absolutely nothing,” Trump joked at dinner Thursday, adding, “But we have developed a friendship. I can see that. I think, long-term, we are going to have a very, very great relationship and I look very much forward to it.”
The two presidents were able to discuss the U.S.-China relationship more deeply Friday.
“I think truly progress has been made. We’ll be making a lot of additional progress,” Trump told the press Friday. “I believe lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away,” he added, without going into specifics.
The two presidents are believed to have discussed key issues affecting the bilateral relationship, including trade and the North Korean threat to international stability.
Beijing hopes that this meeting will allow U.S.-China relations to move forward from a “new starting point.” Xi reportedly stressed the value of four new cooperation platforms focusing on diplomacy and security, the economy, law enforcement and cybersecurity, and people-to-people exchanges.
The Chinese intend to advance discussions on a bilateral investment treaty and explore opportunities for cooperation in areas such as infrastructure development and energy.
Attempting to heal old wounds, Xi told Trump that there are “a thousand reasons to make the China-U.S. relationship work, and no reasons to break it.”
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