China hands its best friend Donald Trump a win on trade. But Beijing needs to tread carefully – this ‘love fest’ may not last

A week before the trade truce, a deal seemed out of reach and the NBA exposed the depth of the two countries’ differences. But Trump needed a deal amid his impeachment inquiry, and his affinity for Xi is something a successor may not share

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US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He on October 11. The US and China agreed on the outlines of a partial trade accord last Friday that Trump said he and China’s President, Xi Jinping, could sign as soon as next month. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 3:00am, 15 Oct 2019Updated: 3:29am, 15 Oct 2019

The US-China “love fest” in Washington last week defied all expectations. That is how President Donald Trump described the current atmosphere in US-China relations.

There was also Vice-Premier Liu He’s birthday wishes to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, whose raison d’être is to force Beijing to submit to structural reforms that would weaken the party’s grip on power. And the letter from President Xi Jinping that Liu delivered to Trump. (Contents still unknown, but it’s safe to assume that the message isn’t a middle finger.)

Such were the scenes that played out as Trump, trying to speak above the roar of a quickly expanding impeachment inquiry and FBI arrests of shadowy figures connected to his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, informed the world that he had signed a trade deal with China.

Well, sort of. There are many blanks to fill in before anyone knows what the two sides are actually agreeing to. Not to mention hardliners in the administration who will do all they can to silence the love fest’s beating heart.

There are also dozens of US lawmakers with sharpened knives, waiting for details about how Trump’s agreement measures up to his pledge to end the decades of carnage – another classic Trump term – that China’s state-driven economy has inflicted on American workers.

But let’s savour the love fest because this moment in US-China relations is likely to be more fleeting than the tenure of a Trump cabinet secretary.

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