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The expected meeting of presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G20 summit follows setbacks in trade talks between their countries. Photo: Reuters
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Xi Jinping targets ‘fundamental China-US issues’ in Japan meeting with Donald Trump

  • Meeting at G20 could bring first positive development after setbacks in talks to end the two countries’ trade war
  • But former US trade negotiator says expectations of the presidents’ discussions should be ‘kept in check’
US-China relations
Kinling Lo
Kinling Loin Beijing
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has said he hopes to address “fundamental China-US issues” in his meeting with counterpart Donald Trump in Japan next week.

Xi expressed his willingness to meet Trump during a phone call between the two leaders on Tuesday, according to Chinese state media reports. Trump also confirmed on Twitter that the two would meet.

“I am willing to meet the president during the G20 summit in Osaka to exchange opinions on the fundamental issues of the development of US-China relations,” Xi was quoted as saying.

The two will meet at a gathering of the Group of 20 major economies on June 28 and 29, and the discussions between the leaders will be the first positive development in relations since China-US trade talks collapsed in early May, leaving Trump threatening to slap tariffs on all Chinese exports to the United States.
China-US relations have deteriorated rapidly on political, economic and military fronts. The US has labelled China a “strategic competitor” and accused Beijing of conducting spying activities in academic and national security arenas. The rift also widened during the trade war that began a year ago when Trump vowed to end a trade imbalance that he said China was “taking advantage of”.

Wendy Cutler, a former US trade negotiator, said expectations of how much progress the two presidents could make in their meeting should “be kept in check”.

“Taking a page from the playbook of their last meeting in Argentina [in December on the sidelines of the G20 summit], an optimal outcome would be an agreement to resume talks, with high-level guidance on how to approach the remaining outstanding issues, coupled with a temporary truce on further tariff and trade-related escalatory actions,” said Cutler, who is now vice-president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“But this outcome is not at all guaranteed. One wild card is how strongly Beijing will press for some backing off of actions taken against Huawei as the price for a trade deal, and how [Trump] might respond.

“To the dismay of the national security community, the US president has said that he might be prepared to do that.”

Cui Fan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said there were still other areas where China wanted to cooperate with the US.

“As China’s industry is upgraded, competition between China and the US will become regular in the long run,” Cui said. “However, both countries share a similar stance in encouraging investment and protection of intellectual property, and there is still room for cooperation in global economic governance.”

Additional reporting by Sarah Zheng

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