Trump talks trade at G20, China's Xi warns against protectionism
U.S. President Donald Trump made clear on Friday that trade was a top priority at a summit of leaders of Group of 20 nations, as Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned against rising protectionism and India and Russia defended multilateral trade rules.
Ahead of talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Trump said he would discuss trade, days after criticising the U.S.-Japan security treaty and demanding New Delhi withdraw retaliatory tariffs.
"I think we’re going to have some very big things to announce. Very big trade deal. We’re doing some very big things with India in terms of trade, in terms of manufacturing," Trump said at the start of talks with Modi.
Trump also said he would discuss Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei with the Indian leader.
"We actually sell Huawei many of its parts," Trump said. "So we’re going to be discussing that and also how India fits in. And we’ll be discussing Huawei."
A White House official said Trump wanted to promote to Abe and Modi "a resilient quality secure infrastructure" — a reference to the U.S. push with allies to keep the Chinese company out of next generation telecoms networks.
Washington has pressed its allies to shun Huawei in their fifth generation, or 5G, networks on security grounds, but has also suggested it could be a factor in a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom Trump meets on Saturday.
