Trump on China in 2018: Lover or Hater?

On December 28, 2017, Donald Trump told The New York Times “I like very much” China's Communist Party Secretary Xi Jinping, adding, “He treated me better than anybody's ever been treated in the history of China.” In the same interview, Trump also spoke of the need to act more aggressively towards China because its trade practices “ripped off” America, and because it hasn't done enough to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions and provocations. This love-hate dynamic has colored many of Trump's statements on China during the first year of his presidency and is mirrored by divisions among members of his administration about how the U.S. should approach China. Which Trump is likely to dominate Sino-U.S. relations in 2018? And how might Beijing respond?