US officials have warned China that Donald Trump will not engage in trade talks with Xi Jinping at next month’s G20 summit if Beijing does not produce a detailed list of concessions, according to two people briefed on negotiations between the countries.
The Chinese, however, say they have such a list but would not present it without some guarantee of it being received in a stable political climate in Washington, including a point person with a mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Trump administration, according to the two people.
US officials have been frustrated by what they see as Beijing’s unwillingness to discuss substantive “structural issues” related to its economic and trade policies. Beijing has been similarly irritated by the erratic approach of the Trump administration, and the inability of US cabinet officials to negotiate binding deals.