Updated April 08, 2017 11:15:39

Photo: The US and China have not always seen eye-to-eye on issues like trade. (Reuters: Carlos Barri)

What was billed as a showdown between the leaders of the United States and China over trade and North Korea ended with little sign of confrontation or concrete progress in resolving their differences.

US President Donald Trump had predicted a "very difficult" meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, however after their first face-to-face at the Mar-a-Lago resort he trumpeted they had developed an "outstanding" relationship.

US officials said the two sides agreed to increase cooperation on trying to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, and China acknowledged the need for more balanced trade with the US.

But the two days of meetings appeared heavier on optics than substance. The most powerful message for the Chinese leader may have been President Trump's decision to launch US missile strikes at Syria.

Those strikes added weight to Mr Trump's threat last week to act unilaterally against North Korea's weapons program, although a much heavier risk would be required to take military action against the nuclear-armed North, which has its artillery and missiles trained on a key US ally, South Korea.

North Korea's launch of four ballistic missiles towards Japan has unnerved the US, and it has decided enough is enough, writes Philip Williams.

The US administration's first recourse is very likely to be economic, pushing China to crack down on Chinese banks and companies said to provide North Korea access to the international financial system.

In a possible indication of the kind of punishments Washington could inflict, a leading Chinese telecoms company, ZTE, was fined nearly $900 million in March for shipping sensitive US-made technology to Iran in violation of US sanctions.

"They recognise that shows our clear determination to crack down on this sort of activity," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US and China "agreed to increase cooperation and work with the international community to convince the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] to peacefully resolve the issue and abandon its illicit weapons programs."

Mr Tillerson said Mr Trump and Mr Xi noted the urgency of the threat of North Korea's weapons program and that they reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearisation of the divided Korean Peninsula.

Trade deals short-change US, Trump says

On trade issues, Mr Trump called for China to "level the playing field" for American workers, stressing the need for reciprocal market access.

Mr Trump also noted the importance of protecting human rights, and asked China to adhere to international norms in the seas of East Asia, Mr Tillerson said.

As a candidate and president, Mr Trump has taken an aggressive posture toward China, labelling Beijing a "tremendous problem" and arguing that lopsided trade deals with China short-change American businesses and workers.

Some $347 billion of the $502 billion trade deficit recorded by the US last year was with China.

The biggest economic risk Australia faces this year is a trade war between two of our biggest trading partners, writes David Taylor.

Mr Trump said in a brief appearance before reporters on Friday that he and Mr Xi made "tremendous progress" in their talks and that he believes "lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away." He did not elaborate.

For Mr Xi, who is entering a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress in the fall, the meeting with Mr Trump was more about stabilising the critical US-China relationship and burnishing his foreign policy credentials than achieving a breakthrough.

The only other foreign leader to be hosted at Mar-a-Lago during Mr Trump's presidency so far is Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a close US ally.

Speaking alongside Mr Trump, Mr Xi said the two delegations discussed important topics and established a good friendship and working relationship.

He noted the historic responsibility of both countries — the world's largest economies and emerging military rivals — to work toward peace and stability.

The visit was overshadowed by the missile barrage aimed at Syria, announced shortly after Mr Trump and Mr Xi wrapped up dinner on Thursday night. The strikes were retaliation against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a chemical weapons attack against civilians caught up in his country's long civil war.

China's response was muted. Its UN ambassador, Liu Jieyi, never mentioned the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, or the US airstrikes, at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday.

Mr Liu focused instead on the need for a political solution to the six-year Syrian conflict.
AP

Topics: government-and-politics, world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, international-aid-and-trade, business-economics-and-finance, trade, united-states, china, asia

First posted April 08, 2017 11:02:48