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US-China rivalry ‘could steal show and undermine reform agenda’ at June’s G20 summit
- Outcome of the expected meeting of presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump threatens to detract from multilateral efforts
- Rivalry risks a stalemate similar to that at Apec summit, despite Beijing’s attempts to woo G20 member states
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Sarah Zhengin Beijing
The intensifying trade clash between China and the United States is set to overshadow the G20 summit next month, even as Beijing extends overtures to other members to promote a multilateral agenda, with the two countries’ leaders preparing to meet for the first time since the end of the truce in their prolonged tariff war.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to sit down with his US counterpart Donald Trump at the gathering of the world’s most powerful heads of state in Osaka from June 28 to 29, a tête-à-tête that other concerned nations hope will yield a trade agreement, after Trump last week accused Beijing of trying to renegotiate a draft deal.
But the summit could become dominated by their stand-off or end in stalemate like November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit if the US-China deadlock is not broken, analysts have said.
Host country Japan has prioritised reforms for trade and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), climate change and the digital economy for the G20 summit.
But the highly anticipated Xi-Trump meeting could “steal the show” as it did when the two agreed to suspend additional tariffs at last year’s G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, said Carola Ramon-Berjano, deputy chair of the China working group at Argentinian think tank the Council on International Relations.
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