President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walked slowly Thursday into the White House Rose Garden to review U.S. military troops, a stride that matched the pace of talks on pressing issues and highlighted underlying tensions between the two rivals.
As the heads of the world’s largest economies stood shoulder-by-shoulder, an American bomber with four fighter jet escorts roared overhead. A U.S. Marine Corps team stood feet from Xi and conducted a rifle drill — should Washington ever be forced to defend Taiwan after a Chinese attack, the amphibious assault-expert Marines likely would be among the first American troops on the island.
