During Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, harsh promises about confronting China were a constant theme, rolling off the candidate's tongue almost as frequently as "Crooked Hillary." To court blue-collar voters, Trump pledged that, as president, he would make China pay for unfair trade practices that have undercut U.S. manufacturers and killed American jobs.

Fast forward to Beijing this week. Now-President Donald Trump displayed a completely different syndrome as the guest of Prime Minister Xi Jinping. Gone was the bluster and tough talk about fighting for American workers whose jobs, he charged, had been squandered by Obama administration pandering to China.

"We can't continue to allow China to rape our country — and that's what they're doing." Trump told a campaign rally in May 2016. "It's the greatest theft in the history of the world." He pledged to have China labeled a currency manipulator. He promised to reverse China's entry into the World Trade Organization. He would punish China for dumping cheap steel on international markets, thereby undercutting U.S. exports.

In Beijing this week, Trump was instead effusive in his praise of China and Xi, who leads a one-party Communist dictatorship similar to the one in Cuba that Trump regularly denounces. Trump did offer a tiny hint of criticism of Chinese policies, but the tone was nowhere near the confrontational approach of the campaign.

"We want a vibrant trade relationship with China. We also want a fair and reciprocal one. Today, I discussed with President Xi the chronic imbalance in our relationship as it pertains to trade, and the concrete steps that we'll jointly take to solve the problem of the massive trade distortion," Trump stated Thursday.

He called on China to respect intellectual property rights of American companies and to provide "a level playing field for our workers," adding, "The United States also continues to advocate for reforms that advance economic freedom, individual rights, and the rule of law."

Trump then quickly switched gears, offering praise for "tremendous, incredible, job-producing agreements" reached between China and major U.S. companies. Regarding the many unfair practices that worsen the trade imbalance, he said, "I don't blame China."

There are, of course, diplomatic protocols that even Trump feels compelled to respect when meeting foreign leaders. He knows that Chinese pressure is required to keep nuclear-armed North Korea in line. Thus, Trump has had to practice uncharacteristic self-restraint.

The result, however, is not a hard-charging, major departure from the way his predecessorsdealt with China. Rather, Trump is dutifully upholding their policies and precedents.

So, while China keeps violating international environmental and labor standards while unfairly propping up its currency and subsidizing its manufacturers, American workers keep paying the price. If blue-collar voters expected something different by backing Trump, they must be sorely disappointed.

REPRINTED FFROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH