Osaka, June 28: United States President Donald Trump has on Friday said he hadn’t vowed his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping a reprieve from rising tariffs in a trade spat between the world’s two largest economies and hoped his scheduled talks with Xi would be productive on the sidelines of the G20 summit held in Osaka, Japan.
China, for its part, stated it hoped the US would make efforts to meet halfway in order to settle a soared trade war that has loomed during the two-day G20 summit.
Beijing and Washington are locked in a bitter trade spat and further expected of Xi and Trump deescalating the tensions have dimmed when they will hold a bilateral meeting at G20 summit.
After attending a series of bilateral meetings with G20 leaders during which Trump clarified his priority of two-way trade pacts to enhance the US economy, he told reporters, “At a minimum, it will be productive. We’ll see what happens and what comes out of it,” according to Reuters news reports.
When asked Trump whether he had pledged a six-month reprieve over fresh tariffs on Chinese goods worth $300 billion – remaining Chinese imports, he said, “No.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, in Beijing, said, “We hope the U.S. side can meet China halfway and work hard together to ensure the meeting achieves positive results,” adding, “This accords with the interests of both countries and is what the international community is hoping for.”
Before his bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump said, “I think we’re going to have some very big things to announce. Very big trade deal,” but gave no details.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a media conference, “The trade relations between China and the United States are difficult, they are contributing to the slowdown of the global economy.”
During BRICS leaders meeting, Xi told gathering all this is destroying the global trade order, adding, “This also impacts common interests of our countries, overshadows peace and stability worldwide.”
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