TOI Correspondent from Washington: Americans are holding their breath as US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, not merely over the outcome of the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but whether their own mercurial leader might stumble into another unscripted diplomatic or political controversy.
The visit, the first by a US President in nearly a decade, comes wrapped in imperial pomp and choreographed grandeur. But underneath the ceremony lies a more transactional reality: Trump is effectively in China hunting for a trade deal that can ease economic anxieties at home, revive American exports ranging from Boeing aircraft and soybeans to ethanol, beef and sorghum, and calm voters rattled by the Iran conflict.
