Osaka, June 29: United States President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have on Saturday declared a truce in their global trade spat, during their bilateral meeting in Osaka, Japan, on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
According to China’s state-run media reports, they also agreed to resume their trade talks, after an unexpected stalled talks in May that caused a tariff war from both sides.
However, no immediate official statement or plans has been yet issued by the White House about a fresh round of trade talks, according to The Washington Post reports.
After concluding the meeting, Trump said, “We discussed a lot of things and we’re right back on track,” adding, “We’ll see what happens. We had a really good meeting.”
He said he will offer additional details on the development at a media conference later on Saturday. Trump said, “We had a very, very good meeting with China, I would say probably even better than expected. And the negotiations are continuing.”
“I actually think we were very close and then something happened where it slipped a little bit,” Trump said, addressing Xi. “Now it’s getting a little closer.”
Xi, while reading a piece of paper, was careful not to disclose his strategy on plans with Trump. He said, “Cooperation and dialogue is better than friction and confrontation. Today, I’m prepared to exchange views on the fundamental issue of the growth of the U.S.-China relations to set the direction of our relationship in the period to come.”
The Chinese media outlet reported the US president had agreed not to slap Beijing with any additional trade tariffs, but there were no reports of suspending already-imposed tariffs on the Chinese goods.