The White House said Trump would host Xi next Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida. It said Trump and his wife Melani...
It will be the first meeting between Xi and Trump, whose presidency began on Jan. 20, amid heightened tensions between the world's two largest economies over issues including North Korea, the disputed South China Sea, Taiwan and trade.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang gave no details of the agenda, but spoke of the need to see the big picture while fostering mutual interests in trade relations.
When China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, its accession terms allowed other WTO members to treat it as a non-market economy and use a third country's prices to assess whether Chinese goods were being sold below cost. But part of that clause expired on Dec. 11, 2016, which China says means WTO trading partners must drop their use of such surrogate pricing, which has led to higher U.S. anti-dumping duties on imported Chinese goods.The United States and European Union failed to change their view of China's status. A day later, Beijing launched a formal complaint against them before the WTO.
The White House's invitation letter to lawmakers came amid a quickly rising storm over Rep. Devin Nunes, who heads the House intelligence committee. The New York Times reported that two White House officials — including an aide whose job was recently saved by President Donald Trump — secretly helped Nunes examine intelligence information last week.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing the meeting was be an opportunity for Trump "to develop a relationship in person with President Xi."but, it seems that Beijing is also deeply suspicious of U.S. intentions towards self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, after Trump broke with decades of U.S. policy by taking a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and saying that Washington did not have to stick to a "one China" policy.
