A lot was riding on this meeting – but Xi’s poker face gave nothing away

Gyeongju: Against the backdrop of a destructive trade war that has shaken economies and rattled the global order, US President Donald Trump and his foremost rival, Chinese President Xi Jinping, projected an image of mutual respect as they met in person for the first time in six years. A lot was riding on the meeting, even if many of the outcomes on tariff relief and export controls had been pre-packaged for the leaders to sign off by their lead negotiators days earlier. Tensions between the superpowers had dialled up in recent weeks as they jostled for leverage, and so it was no coincidence that Trump walked into the meeting having announced moments earlier that the US would resume testing nuclear weapons. But after about an hour and 40 minutes of talks, Trump and Xi emerged together from South Korea’s Gimhae military air base in the tourist town of Busan, which served as the backdrop for the consequential sit-down on the sidelines of the APEC summit. They shook hands, then Trump immediately boarded a waiting Air Force One to fly back to Washington, DC.