President Donald Trump warned that if Chinese President Xi Jinping failed to meet with him at the annual G20 summit, the U.S. would slap additional tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports..
What did Trump say?
“I think he will go and I think we’re scheduled to have a meeting. I think he’ll go,” Trump told CNBC on Monday. “I would be surprised if he didn’t go. I think he’s going. I haven’t heard that he’s not. We’re expected to meet and if we don’t that’s fine and if we do that’s fine.”
Trump added that if Xi failed to meet with him, it “would” cause him to increase the tariffs. He also said that he had “a great relationship” with Xi and that he was “actually an incredible guy.”
What is the G20 Summit?
The G20 Summit will take place on June 28 and 29 in Osaka, Japan. Representatives of some of the world’s strongest economies, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, will be present. Between them, these nations represent roughly 86 percent of the global economy.
What about these tariffs?
China and the United States have been locked in a back and forth escalation of tariffs since March 2018 when Trump announced global tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum to the United States.
Just last month, Trump increased the existing tariffs by $200 billion. In 2018, China exported nearly $540 billion worth of goods to the United States. Trump said in July that he was willing to slap tariffs on every single import from China if necessary.
