U.S. President Donald Trump has been weakened on the international stage by political dramas at home, while Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping's clout is growing, according to former diplomats at a symposium on U.S.-China relations.
J. Stapleton Roy, who was an envoy to China under the administration of U.S. President George Bush, told the conference Monday in Des Moines, Iowa, that Washington "is mired in an emerging political crisis that could that could have far reaching implications."
Roy, who has met every top Chinese leader since Mao Zedong's designated successor, Hua Guofeng, said later in an interview that Trump could find it harder to make international deals because of ongoing investigations into Russian involvement in the 2016 election and, potentially, his administration.