Trump, Xi to meet at G-20 after stalled trade talks

President WASHINGTON — Donald Trump said Tuesday he had spoken with President Xi Jinping of China and the two would have an “extended” meeting at the Group of 20 next week in Osaka, Japan.

His comments were the first confirmation that the two leaders would actually meet after trade talks stalled in May and suggested the two countries are once again trying to find compromise.

“Had a very good tele- phone conversation with President Xi of China,” Trump said on Twitter. “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.”

Stocks jumped after the president’s message was posted on Twitter. The S&P 500 rose more than 1% shortly after the start of trading on Wall Street, led by technology and industrial shares, which have been weighed down by the trade war over the last year.

Progress toward a trade agreement between the world’s two largest econ- omies came to a halt last month, after Trump accused China of breaking a deal with the U.S. and China accused the U.S. of failing to negoti- ate in good faith. Trump has raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods as punishment and threatened to tax an additional $300 bil- lion worth of goods — nearly all imports from China — if the country did not agree to America’s trade terms.

A meeting between the presidents and their deputies is a signal that the two coun- tries are once again seeking a path forward on a trade agreement that would open Chinese markets, strengthen its protections for intellectual property and result in purchases of U.S. products.

In an article posted late Tuesday on the website of China Central Television, the official broadcaster, Xi said he stressed to Trump “that the two countries should resolve economic and trade issues through dialogue on even ground, and the key is to accommodate each other’s reasonable concerns. We also hope that the U.S. will treat Chinese companies fairly.”

“I agree that the economic and trade teams of the two countries should maintain communication on how to resolve differences,” Xi said, according to the article.

Still, the two sides remain far apart on several issues, including how many of Trump’s tariffs on roughly $250 billion of Chinese products will come off.