On Thursday, President Trump will welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The summit will offer the leaders a chance to forge a personal relationship, after Trump has repeatedly attacked China for its trade practices, among other issues. The White House said the discussions, which are expected to touch on North Korea, trade, and climate change, will "set a framework" for future relations between the nations.
However, Politico noted that Xi's team could have the upper hand in negotiations, as Trump has yet to fill many key positions. "Those are very key players, and without people in those positions, it is hard to imagine that the administration in this short period of time has been able to come with a comprehensive China policy," said Dennis Wilder, who recently served as the CIA's deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific.
The people Trump will be bringing to the meetings — including son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — largely lack experience. Xi, on the other hand, will have by his side a team with "decades of experience in negotiating with at least three successive American presidents, and a huge playbook brimming with research and intelligence," Politico reported.
Subscribe to 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.
Xi and his wife will stay in Palm Beach through Friday.
-
August 16 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include football season anticipation, and Donald Trump angling for Putin's autograph
-
5 hilariously cold cartoons about the Alaska summitCartoons Artists take on the Alaskan totem pole, a peace flag, and more
-
Sudoku medium: August 16, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
