Trump had ‘productive meeting’ with Xi: White House

Team Udayavani, Apr 11, 2017, 11:28 AM IST

Washington (USA): US President Donald Trump’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Florida last week was “unbelievably helpful” and “productive”, the White House said today.

“I think we had an unbelievably helpful and productive meeting with the Chinese,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference.

One of the most significant developments from these discussions was the agreement to create a 100-day initial plan, hopefully with some tangible near-term deliverables, to lead to a more balanced economic relationship between the two countries, Spicer said.

Trump and Xi last week held their first summit at Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida where they announced a 100-day plan to improve strained trade ties, the only tangible announcement after their meetings that were overshadowed by the US military strikes in Syria.

“As that develops, we’ll make sure that we provide you with additional details,” Spicer said.

Last week, Trump had as many as three meetings with world leaders and he spoke with several others over phone, which Spicer described were “highly productive”.

“The President’s obviously very pleased with the last week that he’s had and the accomplishments, especially on the foreign policy front,” he said.

“His meeting with King Abdullah (of Jordan) was unbelievable. He’s continued to have very strong foreign policy wins, in terms of relationships that we’re making with other heads of state. The attack on Syria won not just bipartisan praise here at home, but world praise,” he said in response to a question.

“I think that he recognises that sometimes some of it spills over, these policy differences and discussions, and he’s made sure that the focus stays on advancing the agenda,” Spicer said.
 

The White House Press Secretary, however, refuted the Russian observation that Trump’s decision of a missile strike in Syria runs a danger of a real war in the Middle East.