President Donald Trump met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Osaka where they discussed trade relations between their countries, a meeting Trump himself said “went better than expected.”
He deemed the talks “excellent” and added that Washington and Beijing were “back on track” in trade negotiations. Trump said for reporters that the results of the talks would be announced at a news conference on Saturday.
His comments about resuming talks were later confirmed by Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, which said that Trump and Xi agreed to continue talks “on the basis of equality and mutual respect.” It also noted that the two leaders, for whom this was the first meeting in seven months, reached a cease-fire on trade and that President Trump also agreed to scrap new tariffs on Chinese imports.
However, Fox News writes that this is all very familiar, with Trump and Xi often reaching a verbal agreement which then breaks down over negotiation details. They were largely expected to address issues such as trade and the dispute over Huawei.
“We’ve had an excellent relationship,” Trump said to Xi before the talks, “but we want to do something that will even it up with respect to trade.”
President Trump expressed confidence to reporters that he would have a “very productive” meeting with Xi, saying “I think we can go on to do something that will be truly monumental and great for both countries.”
The Chinese president agreed, noting that “cooperation and dialogue are better than friction and confrontation.”
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