Trump and Xi’s ‘stalemate’ summit was a glitzy gift to China

BEIJING/TOKYO/WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump hoped his pomp-filled summit with Xi Jinping in Washington last week would showcase the strength of his personal relationship with the Chinese leader.

Instead, the limited outcomes showed just how far apart Washington and Beijing remain on key issues, and reinforced a view among analysts that Xi sees little reason to grant Trump major political victories ahead of November's midterm elections.

"The U.S.-China relationship has settled into a managed stalemate," said Craig Singleton, senior director for China at U.S.-based think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

"The elaborate pageantry matters precisely because there is still relatively little substantive progress to showcase."

Both sides said they reached consensus on lowering tariffs for a $60 billion batch of non-sensitive goods, but there was no timeline for adoption. At the same time, a deadline for a broader trade accord was pushed into next year.

The absence of a Chinese CEO delegation accompanying Xi also highlighted the challenges of overcoming U.S. suspicion of Chinese investment, casting doubt on the viability of a two-way investment scheme the leaders unveiled at a Beijing summit in May, analysts said.

"The Trump-Xi summit created a positive political atmosphere but did nothing to…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/