Pomp, pageantry but precious little to show for Trump’s Beijing excursion

No swift end to the Iran war, uncertainty over Taiwan and only vague outlines of commercial deals … but the US president did get to bask in the company of Xi Jinping It was historic, to be sure, but not as anyone had predicted . First there was Donald Trump , a self-declared teetotaler, apparently drinking champagne after Xi Jinping assured him that China’s “great rejuvenation” could go hand in hand with “Make America great again”. Then there was a Chinese military band playing a rendition of the US president’s signature campaign song, YMCA. Beneath giant chandeliers, blue and gold balconies and a big orange backdrop with pagoda-style roofs, Thursday’s state banquet in Beijing featured characters whose presence would have been unthinkable here a decade ago: Elon Musk , the eccentric tech billionaire, Pete Hegseth , the Fox News host turned “secretary of war”, and of course Trump himself, a former reality TV star now leading the world’s biggest superpower. Continue reading...

Original source: Guardian