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Trump and Xi's Mar-a-Lago meeting takeaways

After predicting a “very difficult” encounter with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Donald Trump emerged from their first meeting hailing an “outstanding relationship” and “goodwill and friendship” formed between the two leaders. Xi made similar remarks regarding the 18-hour summit in Florida, saying they “got deeply acquainted, established a kind of trust and built an initial working relationship and friendship.” There were several key points of tension leading up to the meeting: North Korea, Taiwan and trade, to name a few. And although nothing concrete has come out of the summit, the two presidents now have a constructive basis to move forward. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said both sides have agreed on a 100-day plan to address trade imbalances (reportedly including Chinese concessions on agricultural imports and FDI in its financial sector) and reduce the $347 billion trade deficit between the two nations. The two presidents will also directly oversee a negotiation framework for discussing security, economy, law enforcement and cybersecurity matters with U.S. and Chinese cabinet members. Finding common ground quickly will be challenging on many of these issues—though handling North Korea's nuclear threat appears to be the most urgent.

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