World's two most powerful men about to meet

NY Times -   President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to meet in Beijing [this] week for a high-stakes summit that could shape the next stage of rivalry between the world’s two major powers. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are expected to discuss the war in Iran, trade, Taiwan and other points of contention during a two-day summit beginning on Thursday. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi last met in October in South Korea, where they agreed to pause a bruising trade war in which the U.S. imposed triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing threatened to throttle the global supply of rare earths...

Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are likely to discuss trade, including possible investment in each other’s countries. Washington has been emphasizing what analysts call the “Five B’s.” These include Chinese purchases of Boeing airplanes, U.S. beef and soybeans, as well as the creation of a board of investment and a board of trade. Those two entities would carve out areas of economic exchange between the United States and China that do not raise national security concerns.

The Chinese have been emphasizing the “Three T’s”: tariffs, technology and Taiwan, which Beijing claims is part of China’s territory. Beijing is likely to push for an extension of last year’s trade truce and the loosening of export controls on advanced semiconductors that China needs to upgrade its industrial sector. Mr. Xi, who told Mr. Trump by phone in February that his country would “never allow Taiwan to be separated from China,” is likely to push Mr. Trump to dial back U.S. support for the self-governed island.