Get Ready for a ‘Very Difficult’ Trump-Xi Summit
Does the administration have a strategy for this vital meeting with the Chinese president or does Trump just want to tweet about it?
On this week’s first episode of The E.R., David Rothkopf, Kori Schake, Colin Kahl, and FP’s chief diplomatic correspondent Colum Lynch, discuss President Trump’s latest meetings with foreign leaders. Trump and Egypt’s autocratic President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi showed their mutual admiration for one another, and the administration is gearing up for a crucial meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Is Trump finally showing his flair for diplomatic realpolitik? Not so fast.
On this week’s first episode of The E.R., David Rothkopf, Kori Schake, Colin Kahl, and FP’s chief diplomatic correspondent Colum Lynch, discuss President Trump’s latest meetings with foreign leaders. Trump and Egypt’s autocratic President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi showed their mutual admiration for one another, and the administration is gearing up for a crucial meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Is Trump finally showing his flair for diplomatic realpolitik? Not so fast.
The panel argues that Trump and the administration are diving into this summit way too fast and should have bargained for more out of the meeting. But is Trump just vying for another statesmanlike photo op?
The team also discusses the secretary of everything, aka Jared Kushner. Right now, it seems that he is heading the charge on China, Israel, Iraq, Mexico, Middle East peace, health care … oh, and bringing business innovation to government. That’s a pretty full plate. But is it so bad if Kushner is at the helm? On the one hand, he’s young and can learn and thus grow into these positions. Or is his inexperience a real problem?
Colin Kahl is a contributing editor to FP’s Shadow Government blog. He’s currently a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in the security studies program, and was previously the deputy assistant to President Barack Obama and national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. Follow him on Twitter at: @ColinKahl.
Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she focuses on military history, and a former foreign-policy advisor to Sen. John McCain. Follow her on Twitter at: @KoriSchake.
Colum Lynch in FP’s chief diplomatic correspondent. Follow him on Twitter at: @columlynch.
David Rothkopf is the CEO and editor of the FP Group. Follow him on Twitter at: @djrothkopf.
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