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POLITICS
Trump’s face-to-face itinerary at G20
June 28, 2019 - June 29, 2019 - U.S. President Donald Trump will meet one-on-one with at least eight world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
If President Trump gets it right, the G20 meeting -- which begins on Friday -- could resolve the U.S.-China trade war, defuse another tit-for-tat trade spat with India, bolster Washington’s position in its standoff with Iran and make progress with the European Union, which Trump has attacked for its pursuit of U.S. technology companies in a series of antitrust investigations.
Trump claimed in an interview with Fox Business Network that Margrethe Vestager, the EU antitrust commissioner, “hates” America hours after she launched an antitrust investigation against Broadcom, the U.S. chipmaker.
The eight bilateral meetings will see Trump again lashing out at U.S. allies and cosying up to despots. Meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- a key partner in Asia -- the U.S. leader is expected to lambast his host for not bearing more of the cost of stationing 54,000 American troops.
Trump’s Saturday meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping -- meant as a face-to-face dialogue on trade -- will be the centrepiece of his stop in Osaka. Depending on its outcome, the White House is eager for some type of accord as Trump begins his 2020 re-election campaign.
However, if he stays true to form while in Osaka, Trump will again be missing key opportunities to advance America’s national agenda.