G20 summit: Trump and Xi agree to restart US-China trade talks

OSAKA, June 29, 2019 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. (Xinhua/IANS)

The United States and China have agreed to resume trade negotiations, easing a protracted row that has fuelled a global economic slowdown.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached the agreement on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan.

Mr Trump said the talks had been “excellent”.

He had threatened to impose an additional $300bn (£236bn) in tariffs on Chinese imports.

However after the meeting in Osaka, he confirmed that Washington would not be adding the additional tariffs, and that he would continue to negotiate with Beijing “for the time being”.US and China – the world’s two largest economies – have been fighting a damaging trade war over the past year.

Mr Trump accused China of stealing intellectual property and forcing US firms to share trade secrets in order to do business in China.

China, in turn, said the US’s demands for business reform were unreasonable.

The feud escalated in the months leading up to the summit, after talks between the two countries collapsed in May.

Speaking after his meeting with Mr Xi at the summit, the US president said negotiations were “back on track”.

“We had a very good meeting with President Xi of China, excellent, I would say excellent, as good as it was going to be,” Mr Trump told reporters. “We discussed a lot of things and we’re right back on track and we’ll see what happens.”/BBC news