China, US showdown looms on trade at fractious G20 2 SHARES Share it! Share TweetBy Agence France-PresseThe United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, will see Saturday if they can find a breakthrough to exit a spiraling trade war as their presidents meet at a tense G20 summit. Trump, who has already slapped $250 billion in tariffs on China, sounded upbeat about making progress with his counterpart Xi Jinping after weeks of dire warnings. In a speech to fellow G20 leaders, Xi said that the major economies “should firmly uphold free trade and the rules-based multilateral trading system.”But in a rhetorical olive branch to Trump, Xi pledged to do more to open up China’s economy. “China will continue to deepen market-oriented reform, protect property rights and intellectual property rights, encourage fair competition and do more to expand imports,” he said.

Source: Manila Bulletin December 01, 2018 12:56 UTC