The important meeting between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping regarding the ongoing trade war took place on Saturday over dinner. It lasted an hour past scheduled end time, and afterward very little information was released. At this hour, the president is already aboard Air Force One and on his way back to the U.S.
A limited truce was reached in that war, as the two leaders agreed not to escalate — not to add new tariffs — after January 1, 2019. The news was first reported by Chinese state-run television, and then by Bloomberg in the U.S.
This was the first meeting between the two leaders in over a year and took place as a sidebar to the G20 summit, which ended today. The G20 Leaders’ declaration issued Saturday was heavily influenced by both U.S. policy as President Trump sees it, and by the trade war between the two nations, which affects all the other economic powerhouses at the summit. (MORE ON THE DECLARATION HERE.)
Along with President Trump, in attendance at the dinner on the U.S. side of the table were Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser John Bolton, Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and the president’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow.
After the meeting, Kudlow said the talks went “very well.”
Though not much was announced coming out of the meeting, and the president has yet to make an official statement, the easing of pressure resulting from the dinner/meeting should have a positive effect on the economy.
Grilled sirloin was served, along with ample wine, and caramel rolled pancakes topped with chocolate and cream for dessert, according to the White House.
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