NPR

At Trump And Xi's Meetings, Uncomfortable Talks Are The Order Of The Day

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to President Trump's Florida resort ends Friday, hours after a U.S. strike on Syria. But that's not the only tough issue confronting the leaders. Here's a rundown.
President Donald Trump sits with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a Thursday meeting at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The pair's first in-person talks wrap up Friday.

It's safe to say that few people expected the first face-to-face meeting between President Trump and Xi Jinping to unfold this way.

Halfway through the Chinese president's visit to Trump's resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump announced to the world that he had ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airfield in retaliation for an apparent chemical attack by Bashar Assad's regime.

"It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons," Trump said Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago.

Xi, for his part, has not commented publicly on the Syria strike.

While it's likely to loom large over the talks, the strike isn't the only difficult issue confronting the two presidents. From trade policy to North Korea, from Taiwan to the

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