Xi buys time with Trump as tensions loom over North Korea threat

HONG KONG (April 10): After predicting a “very difficult” encounter with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Donald Trump emerged from their first meeting hailing “an outstanding relationship” between chiefs of the world’s biggest economies.

Xi was similarly upbeat about his US counterpart after the 18-hour summit in Florida that ended on Friday, saying they “got deeply acquainted, established a kind of trust and built an initial working relationship and friendship."

For Xi, the warm words amount to a win, particularly in a sensitive political year that will see most of the Communist Party’s leadership replaced. The US-China relationship appears stable for the moment, no small feat after Trump regularly attacked Beijing on the campaign trail.

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