What Happened: U.S. President Donald Trump announced via Twitter that he and the Chinese President Xi Jinping will have an "extended meeting" at the G-20 summit in Japan on June 28-29, Reuters reported June 18. China's state-run news station CCTV has since reported that Xi has confirmed the sit-down with Trump.
Why It Matters: The meeting will be the first sit-down between the two leaders since the latest round of trade talks broke down in early May, and could offer a chance for the United States and China to resume negotiations. It could also open the door for a possible cease-fire amid the two countries' escalating trade war before the White House follows through on imposing additional tariffs on the remaining $300 million worth of Chinese goods.
Background: Since the May 10 suspension of U.S.-China trade negotiations, the United States has increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and has threatened to tack on more taxes on all remaining imports from Beijing, in addition to blacklisting Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. In response, China has doubled down nationalist narratives and has threatened its own retaliatory measures against Washington, including restricting its exports of rare earth elements and adding U.S. companies to Beijing's new "unreliable entity list."
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