President Donald Trump slammed China as the “economic enemy” during the campaign, vowing to correct its massive trade imbalance with the U.S. and allow zero tolerance for its cyber thefts of American corporate secrets.

But Trump has tempered his fiery rhetoric as he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, and critics are questioning whether he’ll really defend American businesses and workers in the face of Beijing’s aggressive promotion of its own industries.

"One of the few hopes we had with President Trump is that he’d finally stand up to China," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters this week. "But up to now, when it comes to China, he looks like a 98-pound weakling. He talks a good game. He signs a couple of executive orders that mean nothing. He hasn’t saved one job — one job — that China is stealing."

Trump last week signed two executive orders: one calling for a study of U.S. trade deficits and another seeking tougher enforcement of rules meant to keep foreign manufacturers from flooding U.S. markets with cheap goods. But there has been little indication since Inauguration Day of how he plans to handle the cyber threat from China. And his campaign promise to label the Asian economic powerhouse a currency manipulator hasn’t materialized.

Instead, Trump has been taking a conciliatory tone. “We have developed a friendship,” Trump said Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago, with Xi at his side. "I can see that. I think, long-term, we are going to have a very, very great relationship and I look very much forward to it.”

That’s a far cry from what he said last year. “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country, and that’s what they’re doing,” Trump said at the height of his push for the GOP nomination. “It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world.”

Cyber theft was at the top of the agenda when Xi last came to the U.S. in September, 2015 to meet with President Barack Obama. That meeting came on the heels of private U.S. government allegations that Beijing-linked hackers had staged a devastating mass theft of hugely sensitive federal personnel records.

At the same time, companies were complaining that China was orchestrating a pervasive hacking campaign to steal America’s trade secrets and erode the country’s competitive advantage on the international market. Government officials estimated in 2015 that such economic espionage was costing the U.S. up to $400 billion a year.

Xi and Obama struck a deal in which both countries agreed not to hack each other’s companies for commercial gain. That pact appears to have worked – so far. But former officials, cyber experts and foreign policy specialists told POLITICO that many – including the Chinese – will be closely scrutinizing this week’s meeting for signs of how tough Trump will be on continuing issues.

Observers will be looking to see whether the White House commits to continuing biannual meetings that have helped implement the Obama-era hacking pact, and whether Trump goes after Xi over an industry-detested Chinese cybersecurity law that critics say may force companies to let Beijing review their security protocols.

Adam Segal, a China expert who directs the cyber policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it would be “an important sign” if the readout from this week’s meeting mentioned this next high-level dialogue.

“If we don’t see [a commitment to meeting], it’s either … not a high priority for the Trump administration, or it’s a capacity question,” Segal added. “Do they have people who know of it and are planning for it?”

A senior White House official told reporters this week that the administration expects to see “some movement” during this week’s meeting on setting up a framework to continue the dialogue, “and for there to be clear deadlines for achieving results.”

On trade, Democrats and business interests are also pressing Trump to talk tough with Xi on issues such as currency manipulation, industrial espionage, and China’s excess production of aluminum and steel. Those points were underscored in a letter to Trump signed by a dozen Democrats, including Schumer and Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

"You pledged to support American workers and go after trade cheaters, and we hope you take this opportunity with your first one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Xi to keep this promise to American workers and strongly affirm these priorities," the lawmakers said.

John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said that one meeting can’t solve all problems, especially one being held at the outset of an administration. “I think one of the main goals, therefore, for this first early meeting should be for the two presidents to develop a working relationship — and that would be an important outcome.”

The business world would also like the sides to establish a framework for annual strategic and economic talks similar to those that took place during the Obama administration.

The U.S.-China Business Council has urged the Trump administration to conclude talks on a bilateral investment treaty that would also dismantle many of China’s barriers to foreign businesses.

Xi, for his part, seems to have learned something about dealing with the dealmaker in the White House after Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi came on too strong in a meeting with the new president, key advisers and members of his family after the election.

“It turned out that wasn’t very effective,” said Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And the Chinese rethought their approach and decided that a charm offensive, and working, particularly, directly through the family members, would be more effective.”

That paid off when Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and granddaughter, Arabella, made a surprise appearance at the annual Spring Festival at the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

In addition, Ivanka’s husband and senior White House official Jared Kushner has established a regular dialogue with Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai as part of his broad responsibility as a top adviser to his father-in-law, analysts said.

Democrats say they’re uneasy with this new friendliness.

Stabenow this week drew attention to a recent Chinese government decision giving Trump-branded businesses preliminary approval to register 38 new trademarks in China.

“I’m very concerned that Trump is more focused now on expanding his own businesses in China, rather than our businesses at home,” Stabenow said. “Our president will have his name on businesses in China, including spas, massage parlors, finance, construction companies, real estate companies.”

Meanwhile, the White House is downplaying expectations for this week’s meetings.

“A lot of issues are going to come up,” the senior White House official said, but “we don’t want to be unrealistic about” what can be achieved on any one topic.

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