Donald Trump insists US-China relations are in a good place as he wraps up trip

Trump’s rosy outlook on the US-China relationship collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers

US President Donald Trump, left, poses for a picture with Chinese President Xi Jinping (Evan Vucci/Pool via AP)

US president Donald Trump is insistent that US-China relations are good and getting better despite deep differences on key issues.

The US president started his last day in Beijing by boasting on social media that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had “congratulated me on so many tremendous successes” and had been referring only to his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, when he “very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation”.