MNI POLITICAL RISK - Biden-Xi Bilateral Dials Back Tensions

Executive Summary:

• President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a "productive" and "constructive" bilateral meeting yesterday on the margins on the APEC Leaders’ Summit in San Francisco, California.
• As expected, the bilateral didn’t come with any major accompanying announcements but acted as a checkpoint in a months-long diplomatic effort by the Biden administration to dial back tensions and increase communication. Full analysis of the bilat inside.
• The Senate yesterday synched up with the House and passed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) Continuing Resolution to avert a government shutdown but the underlying dynamics which have destabilised the 118^th Congress remain unresolved and the risk of a shutdown will be acute in January.
• With the immediate threat of a government shutdown averted, Congress will turn to a backlog of pending legislation, including President Biden’s USD$106 billion national security and USD$56 billion domestic supplemental funding requests.
• Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said yesterday that he is "absolutely" considering a presidential campaign amid more polling suggesting that third-party candidates will do more damage to Biden than Trump in 2024.
• A potentially damming report from the House Ethics Committee on federally indicted Representative, George Santos (R-NY), is expected to be released today or tomorrow.
• Poll of the Day: President Donald Trump’s slight lead in the 2024 presidential election is likely to be reinforced if third-party candidates are added to the ballot.

Please find the full article attached below:

MNIPOLRISKUSDaily161123.pdf