CHINA/G20/JAPAN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Trump says he expects ‘productive’ talks with Xi Jinping. President Trump voiced optimism on Friday [6-28-19] afternoon about upcoming trade talks with China, saying that his planned meeting on Saturday morning with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, would be productive. Taking questions during a joint news conference with President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Mr. Trump talked repeatedly about the Xi meeting, while avoiding specific predictions. ‘At a minimum, it will be productive — we’ll see what happens and what comes out of it,’ Mr. Trump said. He denied recent news reports that he had promised not to impose any new tariffs on China in order to arrange his meeting with Mr. Xi on Saturday [6-29-19]. ‘No, I didn’t promise,’ he said. Mr. Trump’s senior aides have just gone through the necessary legal steps for him to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on $300 billion a year worth of American imports from China. But they have not given any timetable for when he might actually do so.”
–NYT Staff, “Day 1 of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan,” The New York Times online, June 27, 2019