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Donald Trump says he has 'developed a friendship' with Chinese president Xi Jinping as high stakes summit begins
- Xi Jinping and Trump meet in Florida for key summit
North Korea and manufacturing jobs to top the agenda
Trump: 'so far I have gotten nothing from Xi'
Trump launches US air strikes against Assad regime
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping opened their high-stakes summit at Trump's Florida beach resort on Thursday evening, with the urgent threat of North Korea's nuclear ambitions and tensions over trade on the agenda for the first meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife at the Mar-a-Lago estate before making their way to dinner.
The president pointed to the crisis in North Korea as a top priority in the meetings with Xi, telling reporters on Air Force One on his way to Florida on Thursday that he thinks China will "want to be stepping up" in trying to deter North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Still, Trump appeared lighthearted as he greeted Xi, gesturing and pointing to journalists as they tussled to get a shot of the two leaders together for the first time.
Ahead of the dinner, Trump said he and Xi already had had a long discussion and had "developed a friendship," and then joked, "I have gotten nothing, absolutely nothing."
The White House said the location was selected to give the two days of discussions a more relaxed feel. A number of Trump's top advisers were in attendance, including his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Outside the dining room where the two delegations gathered for a lavish dinner, Mar-a-Lago club members packed the patio for dinner.
While Trump would not say what he wants China to do specifically with regard to North Korea, he suggested there was a link between "terrible" trade agreements the U.S. has made with China and Pyongyang's provocations. He says the two issues "really do mix."
The president has said that if China doesn't exert more pressure on North Korea, the U.S. will act alone.
North Korea and bringing manufacturing jobs back from China to top the agenda
The meeting comes after North Korea carried out a ballistic missile test on Wednesday, and as Mr Trump’s supporters demanded he fulfil his campaign promise to bring manufacturing jobs back from China, Nick Allen reports.
Speaking hours before sitting down to dinner with Mr Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan, Mr Trump said: “We have a big problem on North Korea, so we’re going to see what happens.”
Asked if he hoped to leverage China into action over North Korea’s nuclear programme, Mr Trump said: “I’ll tell you we’ll be in there pitching, and I think we’re going to do very well.”
A US official said the potential for ramping up "secondary sanctions" against Chinese banks and companies that do business with Pyongyang would be "an early topic of conversation" and a "very live" subject.
"The feeling on our side is that this problem has really now become urgent. It reaches across the globe," the official said.
"Patience has basically come to an end. We feel this problem has now crossed a certain line and we can no longer hope for some kind of reversion to negotiations. We need to do something proactive to get some results."
A White House National Security Council official added: "It’s in Beijing’s interest. We think that North Korea long ago ceased to be a strategic asset for China. It is now quite clearly a strategic liability."
Mr Trump would be "sending a clear signal" to Mr Xi on North Korea.
He told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to Florida that he was going to address what he sees as an imbalaced trade relationship between the two powers - an issue he talked about at length during his presidential campaign.
"We have been treated unfairly and have made terrible trade deals with China for many, many years. That's one of the things we are going to be talking about," the president said.
The US trade deficit with China last year was $347 billion, more than two thirds of the entire US deficit.
During the election Mr Trump accused China of "stealing" US jobs and factories, and of being a currency manipulator.
He pledged, as a successful businessman, to return jobs and threatened tariffs on Chinese goods.
His most fervent supporters want him to deliver and Mr Trump's team made clear they want to see "results" from the summit including a "level playing field" on trade.
North Korea test
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, Reuters reports.
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 U.S.-China relationship, and Trump has threatened to use trade to try to force China to exert influence over Pyongyang.
"I think China will be stepping up," Trump told reporters. 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.
A long-standing option of pre-emptive strikes remains on the table, but despite the tougher recent U.S. talk, the internal review "emphasises direct military action," a U.S. 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 U.S. troops stationed there.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/06/donald-trump-faces-first-major-foreign-policy-tests-syria-crisis/