After issuing a stark warning to North Korea earlier today during a visit to South Korea, Donald Trump has jetted to Beijing to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping to lean on Pyongyang over its nuclear programmes.
But the US president - on the final leg of a 12-day trip to Asia - may find that his unique style of diplomacy isn’t enough to persuade the communist strongman.
Trump will try to convince Xi to “squeeze North Korea further with steps such as limits on oil exports, coal imports and financial transactions”, says Reuters. But according to The New York Times, the Chinese president “either cannot, or does not want to, do the job”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump may find himself on the back foot, says Matthew Pennington of the Associated Press. Xi is at the height of his power after being endorsed for his second five-year term as Communist Party leader, while Trump - elected exactly a year ago today - has seen his approval ratings drop to an all-time low.
Trump could find success with US-China trade initiatives, however. He is expected to announce “billions of dollars in deals” to address the trade gap between the two nations, says CNBC. The agreements will probably centre on China buying US energy and farm products, as well as aircraft and other machinery.
-
Scott Adams: The cartoonist who mocked corporate lifeFeature His popular comic strip ‘Dilbert’ was dropped following anti-Black remarks
-
The 8 best animated family movies of all timethe week recomends The best kids’ movies can make anything from the apocalypse to alien invasions seem like good, wholesome fun
-
ICE: Now a lawless agency?Feature Polls show Americans do not approve of ICE tactics
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Ukraine, US and Russia: do rare trilateral talks mean peace is possible?Rush to meet signals potential agreement but scepticism of Russian motives remain
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Trump backs off Greenland threats, declares ‘deal’Speed Read Trump and NATO have ‘formed the framework for a future deal,’ the president claimed
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
