With a focus on the trade conflict that he himself started, US President Donald Trump wants to use the G20 summit’s stage to put his stamp on world politics. According to the White House, the president is planning a total of seven highly explosive bilateral meetings with statesmen from all over the world. Besides Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinese President Xi Jingping are also among the interlocutors.
It is not just the meeting with Merkel that should focus on trade policy. The EU threatens the US with tariffs on car imports – especially for the car country Germany a sensitive body. According to a report from „Wirtschaftswoche“, citing EU sources, it could come in the week after the summit to new duties.
Trade dispute with China from further escalation?
With the Chinese Xi Trump still has to carry out a harder fight. However, the White House does not consider an agreement still possible in Argentina. If it can not come to an agreement, the US could lift the imposed special duties on goods worth 200 billion dollars – from ten percent to 25 percent. At worst, Americans could even impose tariffs on all imports of goods from China totaling more than $ 500 billion. „That may not be the first choice, I’m just saying, that’s a point of view,“ said Trump’s business advisor Larry Kudlow.
According to him, China has to make some concessions. „Certain conditions must be met,“ he emphasized. „They are now a big economy, it’s not like they were 25 or 30 years ago.“ The goal is still to bring the mutual tariffs down to zero, the same applies to other trade barriers and subsidies. Among other things, however, China must commit to free, fair and reciprocal trade.
For a long time now, a commitment by China to renounce intellectual property theft has also been part of US conditions. This has been a concern of western companies and governments for decades. Kudlow stressed that the US was in strong negotiating position in Argentina. „Most observers believe China’s economy is in a downtrend, while the US is going from a very solid, strong position to the summit,“ he said. „I think we are in far better shape to go through this than China.“
Trump casts doubt on meeting Putin
The list of Trump’s bilateral meetings includes Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, South Korean leader Moon Jae-In, host Mauricio Macri, and India’s President Narendra Modi, who will be called in for talks with Abe. The summit is on Friday and Saturday in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. In an interview published on Tuesday with the „Washington Post“ Trump again put the meeting with Putin in doubt. He is expecting a report from his National Security Team on the crisis in Ukraine. „I do not like this aggression,“ Trump told the newspaper.
Specifically, Trump’s list of interlocutors does not include Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. „The possibilities for bilateral meetings are full to overcrowded,“ said White House National Security Advisor John Bolton. Trump himself had previously discussed a meeting with Salman. The Crown Prince is suspected of being behind the killing of journalist Jamal Kashoggi at the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul.
In the margins of the meeting Trump wants to sign the hard-won joint trade agreement with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Peña Nieto. It is to follow the Nafta Agreement, which Trump once described as one of the worst free trade treaties in history.
The White House
