Financiers hope Trump, Xi meet

STRAINED RELATIONS: G20 SUMMIT IS LIKELY VENUE

Moneymen warn US-China trade spat could push world into financial crisis.

Washington

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will “probably” meet at a G20 summit next month, a US official said on Sunday, as both sides seek answers for a badly strained relationship that a Chinese official called “very confusing”.

Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow said on the Fox News Sunday programme: “The presidents will probably meet at the G20 in Buenos Aires.”

But he added trade talks with China – with each side imposing a mounting series of tariffs on the other, raising fears of a shock to the global economy – had so far been “unsatisfactory”.

“The relationship has not been positive lately,” Kudlow said.

China’s ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, raised similar doubts about the relationship between the world’s two largest economic powers.

Also appearing on Fox, he said China has grown frustrated in trade talks because of conflicting signals from the Trump administration. Cui said other ambassadors in Washington shared his frustration.

“They don’t know who was the final decision-maker” in the administration, he said. “Of course, presumably, the president would take the final decision. But who is playing what role? It can be very confusing.”

Chinese officials have complained before about receiving mixed signals from Trump’s economic team. One Chinese official appealed in June to “our American interlocutors to be credible and consistent” while another called the US side “capricious”.

At a World Bank/International Monetary Fund meeting in Bali, global finance chiefs warned that the US-China trade spat, coupled with rising US interest rates and tanking emerging market currencies, could push the world to financial crisis. They added, however, that there was still time to avert such a disaster.

Two earlier encounters between the presidents, Cui said, had made it “clear that such top-level communication played a key role, irreplaceable role in guiding the relationship forward. And there is good mutual understanding and good working relationship between the two.

“I hope, and I’m sure, this will continue.” –