Trump-Xi Summit To Finalize Trade Deal May Be Delayed Until June - Reports

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2019) The next meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalize a bilateral trade deal between the two countries may be delayed until June, Chinese media reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources.

Trump and Xi last held trade negotiations to end the US-Chinese trade war between February 21 and February 24. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that a new round of talks would not happen in late March, as it had been previously expected, citing lack of necessary progress in negotiations.

While one knowledgeable source told the South China Morning Post newspaper that Trump and Xi were not likely to be able to finalize their trade deal by April, another one claimed that the summit could be held in June.

Both Trump and Xi are expected to take part in the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka in late June.

China and the United States have been embroiled in a trade dispute since last June, when Trump announced that the United States would subject $50 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent tariffs in a bid to fix the US-Chinese trade deficit. Since then, the two countries have exchanged several rounds of trade tariffs.

At the G20 summit in Argentina in December, Trump and Xi agreed upon a 90-day truce to allow room for a new trade agreement. The truce was set to end on March 1, but after the latest round of consultations Trump decided to postpone the planned increase in tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.