China mum on Trump- Xi meeting at G20 summit

SHANGHAI Attention is turning to a possible meeting of President Donald Trump with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit in Japan later this month as the next step in the vexing trade standoff between the two biggest economies.

The Chinese government would not confirm Tuesday that such a meeting will take place.

“We note that for some time, the U. S. has made multiple public statements that it looks forward to a meeting between the two heads of state during the G20 Osaka summit,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing when asked about the issue. “We will release information on this when we have it.”

Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on $ 250 billion worth of Chinese exports and is preparing to expand them to cover another $ 300 billion. Beijing has hit back with its own retaliatory tariff increases.

Trump wants China to commit to curbing its longstanding, huge trade surplus with the U. S. The conflict also reflects deeper concerns over China’s ambitions to help its own industries gain a lead in key technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

Nearly a year after Trump began imposing the higher tariffs to ramp up pressure on Beijing, hopes are focused on a possible top- level compromise to break a stalemate in talks that were suspended last month.

Trump said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday that if Xi doesn’t meet with him at the Group of Twenty major economies gathering in Osaka, more U. S. tariffs on Chinese exports may go into effect, though he expects Xi to attend.

No talks are planned in Beijing or Washington before the Osaka event, U. S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters over the weekend.

Each side is blaming the other for the logjam in negotiations.