Trump-Xi trade meeting set for Saturday morning in Osaka: White House

[June 27, 2019]  By Roberta Rampton

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is set to hold much-anticipated trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Osaka at 11:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Saturday, a White House spokesman told reporters on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives aboard Air Force One at Osaka International Airport in Toyonaka, Osaka prefecture, Japan June 27, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The bilateral meeting, aimed at heading off a ratcheting up of U.S. tariffs on imports of consumer and other goods from China, is likely to be the most closely watched event at the G20 summit, hosted by Japan.

Trump - known for preferring one-on-one deal-making over multilateral discussions - is set to hold a total of nine bilateral meetings during his time in Japan, including one with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 2 p.m. on Friday (0500 GMT), White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters traveling with Trump.

The meetings are set to begin on Thursday when Trump lands and has dinner with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Gidley said.

On Friday, Trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and then with Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before meeting separately with Modi.

Trump also added a bilateral meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday to his schedule.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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