US President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping will confront each other on the sidelines at this week’s G20 summit, with heated talks expected to centre around their long-standing trade war.
Pressure is mounting over whether the US and China will negotiate a solution and resolve their dispute, as the presidents prepare for their high stakes meeting taking place this Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The two-day meeting will focus on development, infrastructure and food security with further talks centred around Washington and Beijing and the signing of the new North American free trade deal.
In September, Washington imposed £195 billion (US$250bn) of tariffs on Chinese goods, as Beijing retaliated with £85 billion (US$110bn) of duties on US goods.
The US has also threatened to raise tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on £155 billion (US$200bn) worth of Chinese goods in January if no agreement is made.
Last week, Mr Trump’s administration hit out at China, accusing the Asian superpower for failing to change their “unfair” and “unreasonable” trading practises.
US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said in a statement: “We completed this update as part of this administration’s strengthened monitoring and enforcement effort.
“This update shows that China has not fundamentally altered its unfair, unreasonable, and market-distorting practices that were the subject of the March 2018 report on our Section 301 investigation.”
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At the Apec summit two weeks ago, US Vice-President Mike Pence said he was prepared to “more than double” the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had already offered a detailed response to Washington’s remarks in a government white paper issued in September.
Mr Shuang said: ”I recommend the US side read it in detail.”
He added: “It’s normal for there to be friction in economics and trade. What’s key is to have dialogue and consultations on the basis of mutual respect, equality and sincerity.”
The announcements come a few days before the highly anticipated G20 summit, as tensions continues to escalate between Washington and China.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo, said: “Without action to ease tensions and recommit to cooperation in trade, we could see serious harm done to the multilateral trading system.
“The long-term economic consequences of this could be severe. These effects would cause significant disruptions for workers, firms and communities as they adjust to this new reality.
“Potentially, millions of workers would need to find new jobs; firms would be looking for new products and markets; and communities for new sources of growth.”