The two heads of the largest economies in the world will be meeting again in Japan

The G-20 summit is scheduled to take place in Japan next month. As always, there will be plenty for the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies to discuss. One of the most significant economic issues on the table is the current trade way between the world’s two largest economies.

Presidents Trump and Xi are likely to meet in Osaka at the end of June, according to White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow. The two are expected to discuss trade, an ongoing challenge which has left the US and China embroiled in tit-for-tat tariffs since mid-2018. Kudlow stresses that the prospect of the two leaders meeting is still a “strong possibility.” Apart from the coming G-20 summit in June, there are no other scheduled trade talks, or any other occasions where Trump and Xi may meet. Talks are currently taking a seat on the bench as the trade war continues to escalate.

Last Friday, the trade war took another turn as the US increased tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods as Trump claimed that Beijing “broke the deal.” Trump alleges that Beijing broke the previous deal by reneging on earlier commitments made during negotiations. Kudlow has stated that over the last two weeks, Beijing has stepped back on some of its commitments, with the primary sticking point being that Beijing has yet to put some of these promised changes into law.

The latest round of talks took place on Friday, but produced too few successes from the American point of view. As such, President Trump has ordered his trade chief to start imposing tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports into the US. According to Kudlow, Washington is hoping to see China introduce stronger enforcement provisions on topics such as forced technology transfer and intellectual property rights.