US and China differ on trade talks venue

Speculation is rising about a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in March.

Deputy US trade representative Jeffrey Gerrish in Beijing. Picture: AP

Speculation is rising about a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in March, with reports that both sides have very different views on the meeting place.

The South China Morning Post reported yesterday that China wanted the two leaders to meet on the tropical southern Hainan Island possibly on the sidelines of the annual Boao Forum for Asia, which is scheduled for late March. But reports from the US say Mr Trump would like the Chinese President to come to his resort in Florida, earlier in the month.

The US President initially said a meeting between him and Mr Xi was needed before a final deal on the trade talks now under negotiation could be reached.

But he changed tack last week, after his State of the Union address, saying it was “unlikely” the two would meet before the deadline for the talks on March 1.

His comments have raised questions about whether the deadline could be extended to accommodate the meeting.

The deadline was set by Mr Trump, who threatened to increase tariffs on $US200 billion worth of Chinese exports to the US from 10 per cent to 25 per cent on March 2 if a deal could not be reached.

But the Chinese side has never officially mentioned any deadline for the talks.

US negotiators are in Beijing this week for the latest round of discussions with their Chinese counterparts.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said Mr Trump wanted to meet Mr Xi “very soon”, adding that she thought both sides were moving closer to a deal to end their trade dispute.

US news website Axios said this week that Mr Xi could travel to Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in mid-March.

The two leaders first met at Mr Trump’s resort in April 2017.

More details of potential meeting could become clearer at the end of high level talks in Beijing this week.

A delegation led by US Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish arrived in Beijing on Monday to pave the way for talks tomorrow and Friday led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. China’s negotiating team will be led by Vice-Premier Liu He, who was in Washington two weeks ago for talks.

China’s Ministry of Foreign ­Affairs spokeswoman, Hua Chunyang, said this week the two sides were ‘‘expected to build on the consensus they reached in Washington and engage in more in-depth discussions on issues of common concern’’. ‘‘Just like people in other countries, we hope that the trade talks could lead to a good outcome,” she said.

Larry Kudlow, head of the White House National Economic Council, told the Fox Business television channel last week that there was “pretty sizeable distance” between the world’s two biggest economies on reaching an agreement.