The New York Times reported Thursday that Trump is likely to announce plans for a future summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to resolve remaining trade issues and sign a final agreement between the U.S. and China. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America)Have U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators been meeting with each other in recent months, or with bands of convincing impostors? You almost have to ask the question, because media reports about who “ broke the deal” over the past week seem to have been filed from two different universes. As for the more expansive demands from Washington’s trade hawks around reducing the state’s role in the Chinese economy, those have always seemed delusional. President Trump’s unwillingness to tolerate dissent is well-documented, but even within China’s more inherently dysfunctional authoritarian leadership the centralization of power under President Xi has had a similar effect.

Source: Washington Post May 09, 2019 04:18 UTC