Donald Trump was as unscripted as Chinese diplomacy is scripted, down to the precise length of red carpets . This clash of styles makes it easy to imagine some entertaining exchanges at one of the most eagerly awaited summits of 2017 — Mr Trump’s first meeting as president with Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart.

If the pattern of recent meetings between Mr Xi and Barack Obama holds, the next Sino-US presidential summit will be held next year in Washington.

On his visit to the US capital in September 2015, Mr Xi was Mr Obama’s guest of honour at a White House state dinner. “I would not be throwing him a dinner,” Mr Trump said six months before he won his first primary. “I’d get him a McDonald’s hamburger and say, ‘We gotta get down to work because you can’t continue to devalue [the renminbi]’.”