Trump and Xi to meet at G-20 in Fukuoka

The US president and his Chinese counterpart will meet during the G-20 leaders' summit in Fukuoka, Japan, according to a post on the former's account on social media platform Twitter.

In his posting, Donald Trump said he had a "very good" telephone conversation with Xi Jinping and that planning was under way for an extended meeting during the 28-29 June G-20 summit.

Had a very good telephone conversation with President Xi of China. We will be having an extended meeting next week at the G-20 in Japan. Our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019

Teams from both capitals would undertake talks before their meeting, he said.

Trump's tweet came as US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was set to testify before teh US Senate's finance committee.

During that testimony and when queried on the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal, Lighthizer emphasised how the USMCA was an enforceable treaty, adding that he hoped to submit legislation very soon that Congress could approve.

On the subject of China and in response to questions from Senator Ron Wyden, Lighthizer said the relationship with China had been unbalanced and that it should have been addressed a "couple of decades ago", adding that the country had "a long history of violating intellectual property norms".

For Lighthizer, what was "on the line" was "nothing less than the jobs of our children."

Wyden also asked Lighthizer if he was ready to do "whatever it takes" to resolve the outstanding issues with China with Lighthizer responding "yes".

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