Trump 'comfortable with any outcome' from
pivotal Xi talks: official
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[June 25, 2019]
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President
Donald Trump views this week's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping
as a chance to see where Beijing stands on the two countries' trade war,
and is "comfortable with any outcome" from the talks, a senior U.S.
official said on Monday.
The much-anticipated meeting at the G20 summit in Japan will be the
first face-to-face meeting for the leaders since trade talks broke off
in May, leading to a hike in U.S. tariffs on imports of Chinese goods.
The United States and China have waged an 11-month trade war marked by
tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each others’
goods, roiling financial markets, disrupting supply chains and crimping
global economic growth prospects.
The senior administration official, speaking to reporters on condition
of anonymity, declined to give details about plans for the meeting,
other than to say it would likely happen on the second day of the
Friday-Saturday summit in Osaka.
"It's really just an opportunity for the president to maintain his
engagement as he has very closely with his Chinese counterpart. Even as
trade frictions persist, he's got the opportunity to see where the
Chinese side is since the talks last left off," the official said.
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"The president is quite comfortable with any outcome," the official
added.
The Trump administration has accused China of failing to protect
intellectual property, forcing U.S. companies to transfer technology to
Chinese partners and failing to provide a level playing field for U.S.
companies.
Talks between the United States and China broke down in May after the
U.S. side accused China of backing away from previously agreed
commitments.
The senior administration official declined to say whether the meeting
was seen as a chance to restart talks or achieve a more formal
agreement.
"The president has been quite clear that he needs to see structural real
reform in China across a number of issues and a number of sectors, and
nothing about that has changed," a second official said.
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![](../images/062519pics/news_z45.jpg)
President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S.
President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton and
Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a working dinner after the G20
leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 1, 2018.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
"The fact that talks broke down in May hasn't changed that as the
ultimate goal," the official said.
AT LEAST EIGHT BILATERALS
Trump, who is known for preferring one-on-one meetings to
multilateral talks, will meet separately with at least eight world
leaders while he is at the summit, the first official said.
He plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, Saudi Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the
official said, declining to give details of the dates and times
because Trump's schedule was still in flux.
Trump will also meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott
Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is hosting the
summit, the official told reporters on a conference call, noting
additional bilateral meetings could still be announced.
Trump wants to talk to partners and allies to get their support for
his Iran sanctions program and to talk about how to encourage Iran
to enter into diplomatic negotiations after Tehran shot down an
unmanned American drone last week, a third official said.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Additional reporting by Eric Beech
and Mohammad Zargham; Editing by G Crosse and Peter Cooney)
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