US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and their wives Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan at the Mar-a-Lago estate. (AFP)
Hong Kong (CNN) At the first meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, held over chocolate cake and sorbet at the US President's vast Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida, the two leaders seemed on the brink of establishing an unlikely and potentially special relationship.
Trump, less than three months into his first term, had spent his election campaign denouncing the Chinese government for undermining the United States, through a wide trade imbalance and cheap labor. "We can't continue to allow China to rape our country," Trump said in May 2016.
But when Trump was standing alongside Xi at Mar-a-Lago the following April, his tone changed dramatically. The two leaders exchanged compliments during a news conference, with Trump describing their relationship as "outstanding." Pictures from the meeting showed the two men sitting side-by-side, smiling broadly, on a golden couch.
"It was a great honor to have President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan of China as our guests ... Tremendous goodwill and friendship was formed," Trump tweeted shortly after the visit.
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WNU Editor: The first indication for me that the U.S. - China relationship was going to go downhill was when President Xi broke the promise that he had made to President Trump at Mar-a-Lago to buy US goods to bring down the U.S.-China trade deficit. After that everything got worse. But what broke the "camel's back" was the pandemic.
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