Where are the flash points in next week's Trump-Xi talks?

Donald Trump is poised to be the first US president visiting China in almost a decade, but an uneasy trade truce and tensions over Iran and Taiwan loom over his trip next week. All eyes will be on Trump’s talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Analysts said with an advance team already in Beijing, Trump’s travel will likely proceed even without an end to hostilities in the Middle East. What’s on the agenda for the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies? ‘Board of Trade’ US officials will likely seek Chinese purchases in categories like aircraft, agriculture and energy, said Christopher Padilla of advisory firm Brunswick. “That’ll be one important deliverable for the US and the other is to set up the ‘Board of Trade’,” added Padilla, a former US commerce and trade official. The mechanism, as described by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, would help formalise and identify what goods the United States should export to and import from China. This could be a platform for future purchasing agreements in “non-sensitive sectors,” like consumer electronics, Padilla told AFP. But US firms worry that longstanding issues like expanding market access might be taking a back seat as economic ties shift. As of a week before the visit, “not a single CEO” had received an invitation, said US-China Business Council president Sean Stein. But there are hints some may eventually join. Tariff truce China probably wants an extension of its tariff ceasefire with Trump, Padilla said. While Washington and Beijing slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s exports a year ago, Trump and Xi agreed on a year-long trade truce at their October meeting in South Korea. Conditions have shifted since. The deal saw Washington maintain some tariffs over China’s alleged role in global fentanyl supply chains and accusations of unfair practices. But the US Supreme Court in February struck down many of Trump’s duties, including those imposed over drug trafficking. The Trump administration has open