Trump says prepared for G-20 meeting with China's Xi

[PALM BEACH, United States] US President Donald Trump insisted on Thursday he was "very prepared" for a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week at the G-20 summit in Argentina, and suggested a deal could be reached to end the trade war.

The president will meet Mr Xi on the sidelines of the summit, which is taking place from November 30 to December 1 in Buenos Aires.

"I have been preparing for it all my life," he told journalists at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he gave a lengthy press conference after a Thanksgiving day telephone address to US troops deployed overseas.

"I know every ingredient, every stat. I know it better than everybody knows it. My gut is always right," he said of his preparations.

Beijing and Washington have been locked in a trade war since this summer, with the US imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese goods worth US$250 billion per year. In retaliation, China imposed tariffs on US$110 billion of US goods.

Washington has threatened to toughen measures even further if the issue is not resolved before January.

"China wants to make a deal. If we can make a deal, we will," Mr Trump said.

He also hailed his "great relationship" with Mr Xi.

"I like him a lot. I think he likes me. Probably likes me less now than he did before we did what we're doing," he quipped.

AFP