NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS:

Xi wanted to come to Mar-a-Lago and cement his relationship with Trump. But he couldn't lose face. The Taiwan call had to be walked back. Otherwise, Xi would be seen as conceding on a core issue for China right off the bat.

Trump wanted the problem with Xi fixed as well. He had never intended to offend Xi with the call. Trump saw the two countries as two giant corporations and Xi as his opposing CEO. You need a good relationship with the other CEO to have productive negotiations, at least at the start. Trump also looked up to strongman rulers like Xi: He was jealous of Xi's power but at the same time sought Xi's validation. But most of all, for Trump, a close personal relationship with Xi was the prerequisite for getting what he wanted--a deal.

So Kushner, working with the Chinese ambassador, devised a plan to break the impasse. On the evening of Thursday, February 9, after most White House staff had gone home, Kushner called Bannon and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to the president's residence. There, Trump took a phone call from Xi. And, as Kushner had arranged, his father-in-law promised Xi directly that he would accept no more phone calls from the leader of Taiwan.

In the official White House statement about the call, Matt Pottinger secured a small but largely symbolic victory. The original draft had stated that Trump would commit to honoring "the one China policy." But Pottinger made sure the statement read, "President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our one China policy" (emphasis added). That edit maintained America's historical position of ambiguity as to whether the United States agrees with Beijing on its claims regarding what it considers a renegade province.

Regardless, the call showed that Trump had conceded Xi's main point: that the Taiwan call was wrong and would never happen again. "That removed the obstacle for the Mar-a-Lago summit," Pillsbury said. Kushner had delivered the meeting that Trump had sought, putting the president's son-in-law firmly in the driver's seat of U.S.-China policy.

Tweet   @brothersjudd