Trump says he’ll have ‘extended’ meeting with Xi at G-20

The US and China said their presidents will meet in Japan next week to relaunch trade talks after a month-long stalemate, triggering a rally in financial markets.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had a “very good” phone conversation with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The two leaders will hold an “extended meeting” at the G-20 summit on June 28-29 in Osaka and “our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting,” Trump said on Twitter. The US president had repeatedly threatened more tariffs if Xi spurned the opportunity to talk.

“The meeting might very well go well,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House to officially launch his re-election campaign in Orlando. China wants to make a deal, he added.

“That is working out pretty much as I anticipated,” he said.

Xi said he’s willing to meet with Trump and exchange views, the state-run China Central Television reported. The two nations’ economic and trade teams should keep in contact on how to solve differences, according to the statement. The dispute covers areas ranging from tariffs to Chinese intellectual-property protections.

US stocks extended gains on the news, while Treasuries retreated. The S&P 500 rose about 1% in New York.

Had a very good telephone conversation with President Xi of China. We will be having an extended meeting next week at the G-20 in Japan. Our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019

Talks with Beijing broke off last month after the US accused China’s leaders of reneging on provisions of a tentative trade agreement and Beijing said the US raised its demands. Trump raised tariffs on about $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25%, and said he would expand the tariffs to cover another $325 billion in goods – essentially everything the country exports to the US – unless Chinese leaders reversed course.