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Thursday 13 april 2017

The Aruba Today Newspaper announces that due to the Holiday Weekend upon us, we will not
be in circulation Friday, April, 14, Saturday, April 15, or Monday, April 17. We will be back on news-
stands everywhere bright and early to serve our readers and advertisers first thing in the morning,
Tuesday, April 18. Until then, enjoy your Holiday Weekend on Aruba from the team at the Aruba
Today Newspaper, Aruba’s ONLY English Newspaper!q

Trump, Xi converge on currency, Syria as US-China ties warm

MATTHEW PENNINGTON lomatic wrangling: a sur- from developing a nuclear
MARTIN CRUTSINGER prising Chinese abstention missile capable of reach-
Associated Press on a U.N. resolution con- ing the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The demning a Syrian chemical “I think he wants to
United States and China weapons attack. help us with North Korea,”
struck what appeared to In a newspaper interview Trump said of Xi, crediting
be an unusual bargain and a White House news China in the news confer-
Wednesday as President conference, Trump hailed ence with taking a “big
Donald Trump said he the rapport he developed step” by turning back
won’t label China a curren- with Xi during last week’s boats of coal that North
cy manipulator and voiced Florida summit, which Korea sells to its northern
confidence Chinese Presi- seems to have yielded an neighbor. North Korea con-
dent Xi Jinping will help immediate easing of ten- ducts some 90 percent of
him deal with North Korea’s sions related to the U.S.-Chi- its trade with China.
mounting threat. nese trade imbalance and And in one of the sharpest
Another result of the dip- how to prevent Pyongyang reverses of his presidency,
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping pause
for photographs at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump backed off from a trade concessions could be
campaign pledge by say- on the table for more co-
ing he would not declare operation on North Korea.
China to be a currency He said he told Xi last week
manipulator, an action that: “The way you’re go-
that could have led to ing to make a good trade
higher tariffs on Chinese deal is to help us with North
goods. The accusation had Korea, otherwise we’re just
formed a basis of Trump’s going to go it alone. That
argument for lost American will be all right, too. But go-
jobs, on the grounds that ing it alone means going it
an undervaluing currency with lots of other nations.’”
was boosting Chinese ex- Trump’s overall upbeat as-
ports and leading to artifi- sessment of the relations
cially low prices, all at U.S. with China contrasted
manufacturers’ expense. with blunt talk about ties
“They’re not currency ma- with Russia, a country with
nipulators,” Trump told The which he repeatedly had
Wall Street Journal ear- vowed to start a new part-
lier Wednesday, saying nership. Trump and Xi spoke
the country hadn’t been by telephone Tuesday
cheating on its currency night, just days after their
for months. He said a U.S. two-day gathering at the
declaration of Chinese ma- president’s Mar-a-Lago re-
nipulation could jeopardize sort. He and Putin talked on
talks with China on North the phone last week after
Korea.It’s rare for American a deadly subway bombing
leaders to link trade or cur- in the Russian city of St. Pe-
rency disputes to broader tersburg.
international security efforts The opposing fortunes of
against countries such as the two key American rela-
North Korea. Trump’s pre- tionships were laid bare in a
decessors had largely kept U.N. Security Council show-
such disputes separate. down Wednesday. In an
Asked specifically if his de- unexpected move, China
cision on currency was abstained rather than join-
part of an agreement ing traditional ally Russia in
over North Korea, Trump vetoing a resolution that
responded: “We’re going would have condemned
to see. We’re going to see the chemical weapons at-
about that.” tack in a northern Syrian
He also repeated that town last week.q