Trump due in China for high-stakes summit with Xi Jinping | First Thing

The Iran war will cast a long shadow over the talks. Plus, the 100 best novels of all time Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here Good morning. Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, the first visit to China by a US president since he was last there nearly a decade ago, as he seeks to mend power and prestige weakened by the war in Iran. What is the state of US-China relations? The two countries remain locked in a fragile tariff truce, reached last autumn after tensions threatened to erupt into a full-scale trade war. Trump has long complained about China’s trade surplus with the US, while Beijing has opposed American export controls and sanctions. What is the latest with the US-Iran ceasefire? The war has entered its third month, with Tehran tightening its grip over the strait of Hormuz and Washington struggling to turn a fragile ceasefire into a lasting settlement. Behind the scenes, US officials have spent weeks urging China to put pressure on Iran to reopen the strait and accept US terms for peace. What did the Atlantic allege? It reported that Patel’s alcohol consumption had become “a recurring source of concern across the government” which made him a “national-security vulnerability”, citing interviews with more than two dozen people including current and former FBI officials. Patel denies all the allegations, calling them “outrageous” and “malicious”. Continue reading...

The Iran war will cast a long shadow over the talks. Plus, the 100 best novels of all time

Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here

Good morning.

Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, the first visit to China by a US president since he was last there nearly a decade ago, as he seeks to mend power and prestige weakened by the war in Iran.

What is the state of US-China relations? The two countries remain locked in a fragile tariff truce, reached last autumn after tensions threatened to erupt into a full-scale trade war. Trump has long complained about China’s trade surplus with the US, while Beijing has opposed American export controls and sanctions.

What is the latest with the US-Iran ceasefire? The war has entered its third month, with Tehran tightening its grip over the strait of Hormuz and Washington struggling to turn a fragile ceasefire into a lasting settlement. Behind the scenes, US officials have spent weeks urging China to put pressure on Iran to reopen the strait and accept US terms for peace.

What did the Atlantic allege? It reported that Patel’s alcohol consumption had become “a recurring source of concern across the government” which made him a “national-security vulnerability”, citing interviews with more than two dozen people including current and former FBI officials. Patel denies all the allegations, calling them “outrageous” and “malicious”.

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