Trump tells China 'It's not your fault'

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It turns out, the man who won the White House with a message blaming Beijing for the American people’s economic hardships couldn’t publicly repeat those accusations in China.

While US President Donald Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping Thursday that the China-US trade relationship is “unfair” and “unsustainable,” he noticeably shied away from any firm confrontation with his host.

“I don’t blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the sake of its citizens,” said Trump.

US Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad later explained to reporters, “You can’t blame China for pursuing its national interests. We have to do a better job of doing that for the United States of America.”

But it was a move that stunned my colleagues in the White House press corps.

“I’m struck by the fact that Xi and Trump buttered each other up,” said David Jackson, White House correspondent for the USA Today daily.

“It’s quite a contrast to the language on China that Trump used on the campaign. Now he can’t say enough nice things. It’ll be interesting to see if this ‘bromance’ is a long term one,” he added.

We “thought that a president that talked about an ‘America First’ agenda would maybe clash a little bit more,” observed David Nakamura, a Washington Post reporter who covers the White House.

“It’s important for the American side to state its agenda,” he said.

Another White House reporter for a major US newspaper who asked for anonymity to speak freely said, “I was struck by how little friction there was and how big of an effort President Trump made to seem really like he wasn’t challenging President Xi at all.”

No questions

Trump didn’t strike a deal for the leaders to take questions from the media. For the first time since George H.W. Bush conducted a state visit to China, neither leader responded to press questions.

White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders told CNN, “It was at Chinese insistence there were no questions today.”

While they acknowledge President Xi “didn’t respond well” to the public pushing of the Obama administration, many White House journalists told me they have yet to be convinced that Trump’s “softer tone” in China will actually reap progress.

“It’s a good day for on-shot deals, if you will, but in terms of long-term agreements, the question is still open,” added Jackson.