fredricka, this certainly sets the stage for this conversation with president xi. it's not as if they don't have a lot of other things to talk about. president trump was very critical of china. he promised to label them a currency manipulator during the campaign. he's often talked about the american trade deficit with china. they have a laundry list of things to talk about and it's clear this is going to be one of the more important things discussed. >> let me bring in our panel and talk more broadly. michael allen back with us. cnn contributor julian and josh rogin and ryan brown withes also, pentagon correspondent joining us from washington. gentlemen, this is interesting, because the president is saying that the u.s. doesn't need china, but just earlier today on abc's this week the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki