Damian Paletta

I traveled with the Treasury Secretary at the time.

This was during the Obama administration.

And to see the way the Chinese kind of put on all the pomp and pageantry just for that visit, it's going to be on such a different scale now with President Trump going.

Xi Jinping really wants to convey to the world that China is still strong, the economy is resilient, that China has some leverage here because Trump's trade agenda hasn't gone the way the White House has wanted it.

President Trump needs China's help on Iran.

And if China digs in and says they want help, that can make it even harder for him to get a resolution to get the Strait of Hormuz opened and to get gas prices to come back down.

The Chinese, if they are too antagonistic, we all know President Trump won't like that.

And so if President Trump decides to keep the tariffs in place or even raise the tariffs, that'll hurt the Chinese economy.

One thing we should really be watching for is, one, to see if the Chinese agree to invest a lot in the United States, which would look good from President Trump's perspective because it would bring money into the United States, but at the same time could raise national security concerns about Chinese getting access to U.S.

intellectual property and things like that.

We should also watch to see if the Chinese agree to purchase things like soybeans or other agricultural products, which would really help U.S.

farmers who have been battered by the trade war.

One thing that we're all watching closely for is Taiwan, of course, because if the Chinese can pull Trump back a little bit from the U.S.

's support of Taiwan, that'd be a huge victory for China.

And that's the kind of thing that could be on the table.

In fact, President Trump even said he expects to talk to the Chinese about Taiwan during his visit.

My pleasure.

Everyone's kind of funneled through these smaller choke points in the magnometers and security.

So, you know, it's actually not that hard to get into the Hilton, to get quite close to the ballroom without having gone through security.

And it's kind of a wild scene because, you know, you might be right next to a cabinet member.