Trump and Xi: A recap of talks between two of the world’s most powerful men

United States President Donald Trump’s visit to China this week will mark his seventh face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The visit will also be the first trip by a US leader to China since 2017. Recommended Stories list of 4 items end of list Trump and Xi’s three-day summit, which kicks off on Wednesday, is expected to focus on the US-Israel war on Iran, trade, and the status of Taiwan, among other issues. Here’s a rundown of the past meetings between the leaders of the world’s two most powerful nations: April 2017 in Palm Beach, US The two first met at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort on April 6, 2017, just a few months into his first term. At the time of their meeting, Trump was coming off a presidential campaign that had heavily criticised China’s trade practices and their impact on the US economy. Trump had also angered China by accepting a congratulatory phone call from then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, breaking decades of diplomatic precedent set in 1979 when Washington cut off relations with Taipei. During their Mar-a-Lago meeting, Trump appeared to build a personal rapport with Xi and said the two sides had made “tremendous progress” towards improving US-China relations. The summit was largely overshadowed, however, by Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes on Syria, then led by Beijing-backed Bashar al-Assad, during Xi’s visit. …