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'Thinking About It': Trump Could Meet With Xi During Asia Trip for Kim Summit

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is considering adding a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to his upcoming trip to Asia for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Sputnik

"I'm thinking about it", Trump told reporters when asked about possibly meeting with Xi during his upcoming trip to Asia.

"There is a possibility we will meet somewhere – whether it’s there or… I’ll be over at a certain location there, as you know, and that would be announced officially probably next week", Trump said referring to the long-awaited announcement on the time and locating of the second summit with Kim.

 

On Thursday, Trump said he would want to meet with Xi to finalize any potential trade agreement both sides reach to resolve their bilateral issues. China and the United States have been engaged in a trade war since Trump announced last June that $50 billion worth of Chinese goods would be subject to 25 percent tariffs in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit.

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Since, the two countries have exchanged several rounds of trade tariffs, levying duties on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods.

At the G20 summit in Argentina in December, Trump and Xi agreed to a 90-day truce in their tariff war to allow room for a new trade agreement. The 90-day period is set to end on 1 March.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Friday following the Sino-US trade talks in Washington that China and the United States plan to create a special bilateral mechanism for the implementation of existing agreements settling their trade dispute.

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The negotiations were held in Washington earlier this week. Both sides have noted significant progress achieved during the talks.

Xi said in the letter — read to Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday — that he hopes both sides will continue to show mutual respect and step up salutations "by meeting each other half way in order to reach an early agreement that works for the interests of both sides". Xi also stressed US-Chinese relations are at a critical stage.

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