Xi to resume trade talks with Trump at G20

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As leaders of the world's largest economies gather for the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, one of the most anticipated events is the dinner between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, who will dictate the future direction of the most important trade relationship in the world.

It will be the first time the leaders of China and the U.S. have met since the last G20 – in Germany. The venue has not yet been disclosed; it will likely be a restaurant in the Argentine capital.

There is pressure for a settlement.

On January 1, the U.S. announced it would increase tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese goods, from 10 percent to 25 percent. Already, the U.S. has imposed punitive taxes on China-made steel and aluminum.

China is making it clear it wants a deal. Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the U.S. said earlier this week: “We in China certainly don't want to have any trade war with anybody else, certainly not the United States…The key to this solution is a balanced approach to the concerns of both sides."

Expectations that an agreement might be close after President Xi gave a speech to the Spanish congress on Wednesday in which he pledged to “sharply widen the door of China's economy to foreign investors."

In Washington, National Security Adviser John Bolton also suggested that the beginnings of an agreement were emerging.

“I think it is instructive, and I think that the Chinese side thinks the same, to have the two leaders exchange views in the presence of their senior advisers,” Bolton said, adding the meeting could lead to “a kind of way ahead that the advisers could then pursue.”

Besides the trade issue, there are other topics from climate change to the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that China is keen to discuss, at the main G20 summit. But the focus will inevitably be on that crucial dinner between the two presidents.