<p>President Trump&rsquo;s 12-day Asian tour landed him in Beijing this week, where he discussed trade and North Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping. ; ;</p>
<p>Trump has long sought to minimize the trade imbalance between the US and China. During his presidential campaign, Trump accused Beijing of &#8220;raping&#8221; the US and threatened to label China a &ldquo;currency manipulator.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>That vitriol has since been replaced with flattery and negotiation.</p>
<p>Trump called Xi a &ldquo;very special man&rdquo; and said he blames previous administrations &ndash; rather than China &ndash; for the &ldquo;very unfair and one-sided&rdquo; economic relationship between the two countries. &ldquo;After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China credit.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p><strong>According to reports, the trade deficit between the two countries rose to over $223 billion during the first 10 months of the year. ;</strong></p>
<p>Trump&#8217;s China visit ;is being closely watched for signs of how Trump and Xi, leaders of the world&rsquo;s two biggest economies, will be able to cooperate on a wide range of issues. The Trump Administration is hoping to win concessions from China, but Xi is in a very strong position after having consolidated power at a Communist Party congress last month. ;</p>
<p>The summit culminated with both countries announcing business deals valued at more than $250 billion, including a preliminary agreement to build a natural gas pipeline in Alaska. ; ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We want a vibrant trade relationship with China,&rdquo; said Trump after he emerged from hours of meetings with Xi. &ldquo;We also want a fair and reciprocal one. Today, I discussed with President Xi the chronic imbalance in our relationship as it pertains to trade and the concrete steps it will take to solve the problem of massive trade distortion.&rdquo;</p>
<p>One of those &ldquo;concrete steps&rdquo; will be for Xi and Trump to establish a personal rapport &ndash; something both leaders seemed ready and willing to do.</p>
<p>As expected, Xi&rsquo;s remarks were a bit more formal than Trump&rsquo;s. The Chinese leader says that some friction between the US and China is unavoidable, but that the countries should work to improve communitcations and cooperation on Asia-Pacific issues.</p>
<p>Xi said China was committed to working with the US on international issues including North Korea and Afghanistan, and that Sino-US relations were at a &ldquo;new historic starting point.&rdquo; This is the sort of language Beijing has often employed in its efforts to get the US to agree to allow the country to operate in its &ldquo;sphere of influence&rdquo; without US meddling. ;</p>
<p>Trump reiterated his harsh criticism of North Korea during a joint statement with Xi, saying the two countries discussed a shared goal of pursuing the &ldquo;complete denuclearization&rdquo; of the peninsula. &ldquo;China can fix this problem easily and quickly,&rdquo; insisted Trump. &ldquo;You know one thing about your president: If he works on it hard, it will happen. There&rsquo;s no doubt about it.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>Following the 2-day summit, ;Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the White House was &ldquo;quite pleased&rdquo; that there was &ldquo;no disagreement&rdquo; on the North Korea. He called the trade deals &ldquo;small in the grand scheme of things&rdquo; and said &ldquo;we have a lot more work to do.&rdquo; ;</p>