After last week's fumbled nuclear summit in Vietnam, Beijing is worried President Donald Trump might walk away from the negotiating table.
Nuclear talks between Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un were cut short after the two sides failed to reach an agreement. The collapse of the Hanoi summit came as a surprise as many experts had predicted that both leaders would try to reach a deal on smaller items.
"The Chinese saw him walk away from North Korea and they're concerned he will walk away from the China deal," the official said. "You don't want to send Xi to Mar-a-Lago and have Trump walk away. That would be a diplomatic catastrophe."
China complained that Trump walked away from smaller trade deals they thought they’d negotiated with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and separately, with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, diplomatic sources told NBC News.