A horse-drawn carriage ride up to Buckingham Palace, a  state banquet and an address to both houses of Parliament. In terms of pomp, Chinese President Xi Jinping was getting  what the Brits call the “full monty” during his first state visit to the UK.

But that didn’t stop the opposition Labour Party from lashing out at him over the latest job losses in the British steel industry. Four thousand  jobs have gone in recent weeks largely due to cheap Chinese imports.

In spite of that — and ongoing concern about human rights in China — the British government hailed a new “golden age” in relations between the two countries and anticipated that more than $40 billion worth of trade and investment deals would be unveiled during Xi’s visit. The British foreign secretary said that deeper economic ties will enable the two governments to have a genuine discussion about their differences.