Trump to meet Xi Jinping; North Korea, trade to top agenda

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ North Korea and trade will likely top the agenda when U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping sit down for formal talks on Thursday, a day after Trump warned Pyongyang of the grave danger of developing nuclear weapons.

China has been keen to show the importance it puts on Trump`s visit, the first by a foreign leader since the end of a key Communist Party Congress last month where Xi cemented his power. Xi took Trump and his wife on a tour of the Forbidden City on Wednesday.

Trump has ratcheted up his criticism of China`s massive trade surplus with the United States – calling it “embarrassing” and “horrible” last week – and has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices, fuelling worries of increased tension between the world`s two largest trading countries.

For its part, China says U.S. restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States and on high-tech exports need to be addressed. Roughly $250 billion in deals with U.S. companies are expected to be announced during the visit, people familiar with the matter said, with several corporate CEOs in Beijing as part of a delegation led by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.