U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Friday he’s made “tremendous progress” with Chinese President Xi Jinping during talks at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump said Xi and his representatives have been “really interesting” to talk to and he believes the two sides will continue to make progress in solving issues between the two sides.

“The relationship developed by President Xi and myself I think is outstanding.  We look forward to being together many times in the future and I believe lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away,” Trump said.

Xi said he received a warm reception from members of the Trump administration and the two sides came to “many understandings” after holding “in-depth and lengthy communications.”

“I believe that with the passage of time we will make efforts to bear our great historical responsibility for promoting the development of Sino-US relations, to create prosperity for both countries and their people and to uphold global peace and stability,” he said.

Trump and Xi are expected to continue discussing the North Korean nuclear threat and trade, among other things, officials said.

On Thursday, Trump and members of his administration made it clear they hope to pressure Beijing into doing more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons development.

In remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the roughly $310 billion U.S. trade deficit with China is high on the agenda.

“We have been treated unfairly and have made terrible trade deals with China for many, many years. So that’s one of the things we’re going to be talking about.”

But he also appeared to link that issue with U.S. concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

“The other thing, of course, is going to be North Korea, and somehow they will mix. They really do mix. So we’re going to be talking about trade, North Korea, and many other things,” he said, without elaborating.

China supplies North Korea with almost all its fuel oil, imported foods, consumer goods and the raw materials used to construct its weapons program.

But China also has grown weary of the militaristic aspirations of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who has yet to visit Beijing during his six-year rule. A series of U.N. sanctions against North Korea have not deterred it from a string of missile tests, the latest this week.

Trump and Xi, who oversee the world’s two largest economies, met for the first time.

Several protests were held in Florida during Xi’s visit. One was organized by the Vietnamese Community of Central Florida.  The group’s president, An Chau, told VOA’s Vietnamese Service that it was one of the largest protests put on by the group, with more than 500 people taking part.

He said a smaller group of several dozen people counter protested and voiced support for Xi.

Khanh An of VOA’s Vietnamese Service contributed to this report

 

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