Chinese President Xi Jinping met U.S. President Donald Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in the first face-to-face contact between the two leaders. summit’s success was more than just symbolic. Xi said he and Trump “reached important consensus on the development of China-U.S. relations”, according to a news release issued by China’s Foreign Ministry. It achieved tangible outcomes – an action plan to address frictions over trade, an elevation of bilateral talks to be overseen by the two Presidents, a dialogue mechanism between the Chiefs of Staff, and Trump’s acceptance of an invitation to visit China this year. However, the summit was overshadowed by the U.S. Navy’s firing of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria at around the same time Trump and Xi were sitting down for a state dinner. But perhaps the most significant result of the first face-to-face Trump-Xi meeting was the personal rapport between them and the talk of them becoming friends. Such a relationship would help in problem-solving and in preventing saber-rattling between the two countries, analysts said. Xi was more reserved, saying he and Trump had built “a good working relationship” after gaining a better understanding of each other, enhancing trust and reaching consensus on multiple issues. Trump hailed the meetings as producing “tremendous progress in our relationship with China” and said he believed “lots of very potentially bad problems” would be “going away”. For his part, Xi said the summit was of unique significance to bilateral ties after describing the meetings as “positive and fruitful”.

Trump and Xi have agreed to a bold 100-day action plan for trade talks to boost U.S. exports and reduce its trade deficit with China. Analysts said the big questions are whether Trump can assemble the right trade team to negotiate with Beijing and whether the deal is just a smoke screen to mask the lack of progress with China over trade. Steve Tsang, Director of the SOAS China Institute, said the 100-day plan was “at best aspirational, at worst just something to satisfy Trump’s core supporters and make him look strong on China”, the South China Morning Post reports.