Trump rules out meeting with Xi before China trade dialogue deadline

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ US President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, before the theoretical deadline for concluding trade negotiations between the US and China.

“No,” Trump responded when asked by reporters at the White House if he would be meeting with Xi before the deadline. However, Trump left the door open to meeting with Xi in the weeks after that date, which had been announced on December 1 during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump said that he is working with Xi to achieve a new bilateral trade accord but that “it must include real, structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade deficit, and protect American jobs.”

Trump went on to say in his address to Congress that “now our Treasury is receiving billions and billions of dollars” as a result of the tariffs he ordered imposed on some $250 billion worth of Chinese goods.