Trump executes the Panda Mask counter-play brilliantly:

Sundance writes at The Conservative Treehouse,

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:

…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.

Read more here.