Trump, Xi reach trade war truce

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Saturday to a put any new tariffs on hold and continue working to end the countries’ yearlong trade war.

“We’re going to work with China where we left off,” Trump said after a lengthy meeting with Xi at the Group of 20 summit of industrial and developing nations in Osaka, Japan. Trump said U.S. tariffs will remain in place, but additional trade penalties he had threatened against billions of dollars worth of other Chinese goods will not take effect for the “time being.” The United States has imposed 25 percent import taxes on $250 billion in Chinese products so far, and China has countered with tariffs on $110 billion in American goods. Trump on Saturday made one concession by saying he would allow U.S. companies to sell their products to the Chinese tech company Huawei, but he was not yet willing to remove the company from a trade blacklist.

After the summit, Trump traveled to South Korea, where talks are ongoing to plan another nuclear summit between the U.S. president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump tweeted an unconventional invitation on the way: “After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!” U.S. presidents in the past have visited the demilitarized zone that divides North and South Korea, but Trump would be the first to meet there with a North Korean leader.