BEIJING (REUTERS) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and United States President Donald Trump are likely to find it “difficult” to make major progress towards ending their countries’ trade war when they meet at a Group of 20 summit in Japan in June, a former Chinese central bank chief said on Friday (May 31).

Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated sharply earlier this month after the Trump administration accused China of having “reneged” on its previous promises to make structural changes to its economic practices.

Washington later slapped additional tariffs of up to 25 per cent on US$200 billion (S$275 billion) of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate.

Mr Trump has said he is planning on meeting Mr Xi during the G-20 summit, set for June 28 and 29 in Osaka, though China has not formally confirmed this.

Mr Dai Xianglong, who headed the People’s Bank of China from 1995 to 2002, and remains an influential figure in China, told a seminar in Beijing that China-US trade friction was a long-term issue.

China has approached the trade talks with the principles of equality and cooperation, whereas the US approach has been “bullying and America First”, Mr Dai said.

“It’s hard to reconcile these,” he added.

“I expect that at next month’s meeting of the leaders in Japan it will be difficult to achieve major progress.”

Mr Dai added that the current depreciation of the Chinese yuan was a short-term market reaction to the trade war.

China is able to keep its stock market above 3,000 points in the future, he also said.

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