News from CNBC says: U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping emerged from a high-stakes meeting Saturday agreeing to proceed with trade talks after escalating tariffs between the two nations threatened to disrupt the world economy.
The summit, on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Japan, was a continuation of Trump’s years-long crusade to overhaul the U.S. trade relationship with China. He has long accused Beijing of unfair trade practices that sap American manufacturing jobs, and ran for president in 2016 on cracking down on China.
Nearly two-and-a-half years into his White House term, Trump finds himself embroiled in a trade war that threatens to damage the U.S. economy and hamstring his 2020 reelection bid. He has used tariffs to try to force China to the negotiating table. The president aims to end the conflict while forcing China to address trade deficits, intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers, among other grievances.
Trump’s face-to-face meeting with Xi at the G-20 summit is just the latest step in a back and forth with massive implications for the global economy.