President Trump met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House today for a bilateral meeting on EU security and trade issues. During the Oval Office press availability both made remarks but president Trump took the opportunity to have an impromptu presser on other current issues. WATCH:

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Hopefully everyone paid attention to the North Korea topic. It was not coincidental the stompy-feet assertions of Kim Jong-un and the DPRK were timed at the exact moment Chinese Vice-Premier Liu arrived in the U.S. for important trade talks. Once again Chairman Xi Jinping is using his proxy province of N-Korea to leverage economic benefits:

WASHINGTON – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special envoy and Vice-Premier Liu He arrived in Washington on Tuesday afternoon. Liu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-US comprehensive economic dialogue, is leading a Chinese delegation for the talks.

The delegation members come from major economic sectors of the Chinese government. They include: Governor of the People’s Bank of China Yi Gang, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Ning Jizhe, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs Liao Min, Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Luo Wen, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Jun, as well as Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen. Before the delegation’s arrival, a Chinese working group arrived in the United States last week and engaged in intense consultations with the US side.

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POTUS Trump knows exactly what Chairman Xi is doing. Xi is leveraging the N-Korea talks for a better trade outcome.

POTUS Trump executes the Panda Mask counter-play brilliantly:

♦’We are proceeding as scheduled with Kim Jong-un’…. ‘we haven’t heard anything different from their official position’… etc.

♦Then, President Trump expresses warmth and appreciation for Chairman Xi: “friendship”, “close”, “together”, etc.

Dismissing the risk; accepting the meeting might not work; making Xi’s leverage less valuable, and then resetting the economic discussion by focusing back on the disparity of U.S – China trade imbalance.

The Dragon behind the Panda mask must be fuming. President Trump just negated their entire leveraged play, and believe me the Chinese thought this strategy out for weeks, through a process of being immune to the DPRK downside. Meh, ‘if we meet, we meet – if not, no biggie’…. Now, lets talk about the important stuff – T.R.A.D.E.

Too damned funny.

China dispatched their highest level officials in their play. The use of the DPRK leverage was the super-fuel they planned to use in their negotiations. Like.A.Boss President Trump just swatted away the foundation for China’s leverage before he even got to his chair.

Bold.

Takes swagger.

That’s our president.

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