There’s not much in it so far. US president Trump and China president Xi shook hands at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing before taking turns to meet with the respective delegations from each country. And all they did was exchange some light comments before making their opening remarks so far.
As you would expect, Xi framed things in a way that stressed on the importance of US-China relations and stabilising ties between the two countries. In particular, he made reference to the Thucydides Trap moment. For the uninitiated, that’s about the conflicting nature of a rising power that threatens to displace the supposed more established ruler in charge – making it a sort of destiny to be headed for war.
Xi remarks that: “Can China and the US transcend the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm for major power relations? Can they work together to address global challenges and inject more stability into the world?”
As for Trump, he focused his opening comments on trade as he points out that he brought the best of the best in terms of business delegation to Beijing. He was also keen to point out that he maintains a “fantastic relationship” with Xi and even reserved some praise for the China president: “You’re a great leader. I say it to everybody. Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true.”
So, what else can we expect from the summit in these two days?
There will definitely be some “deals” on trade or at least agreements for both sides to try and move past from the tariffs war last year. But again, expect all of this to be mostly for show. Sure, it will involve some goodwill gestures in the months ahead. However, don’t expect any major trade breakthroughs or changes in the big picture.
The positive takeaway for markets is that at least things are not getting worse between the two major powers in a time when we already have to deal with the fallout from the Middle East conflict.
Besides that, it will be interesting to see if Trump will want to push Xi to try and do something about Iran
