Washington, US President Donald Trump will meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires between November 30 and December 1, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.
The meeting, which had been rumoured for weeks, will come amid a climate of tension between the two economic powerhouses, who since July have been facing off in a trade war that – so far – has resulted in the mutual imposition of tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods, Efe reported.
Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, made the announcement to reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
The meeting could serve to reduce tensions and get trade talks started between Washington and Beijing, after they recently bogged down.
Kudlow said that China has not been responsive to US complaints on technology transfers, theft of intellectual property and cybersecurity.
“Our asks are on the table, I’d love to see them respond. Thus far they haven’t,” he told reporters.
Since September 24, the US has imposed tariffs of 10 per cent on some $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and products, the third phase of trade sanctions levied by Washington on the Asian giant.
The Chinese government, in turn, responded by implementing tariffs on some $60 billion worth of US agricultural products.
The first group of sanctions imposed by the US entered into force in July and was levied on some $34 billion in Chinese products, mostly tech products, while the second phase of tariffs was placed on $16 billion worth of Beijing’s goods.
In addition, in mid-September, Trump publicly accused China of trying to influence the US mid-term elections in November, a claim that the Chinese government has denied and called “unjustified”.
