No trade war breakthrough? No problem – that Xi and Trump are meeting at the G20 seen as a win

Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have finally agreed to meet at the upcoming G20 Summit. The news was confirmed last Tuesday by the White House, not through a briefing, media gaggle or press release, but with a tweet from Trump that “extended” talks will happen at the end of the month when world leaders gather in Osaka, Japan.

For those hoping that a resolution to trade tensions is near at hand, however, it is best to lower expectations now.

Neither side is itching for a compromise that could be easily interpreted as weak or conciliatory. Quite the opposite. If there was a meter measuring market pain for both countries, it has not yet pinged high enough for either side to change its position. That is what it will take because the tariff feud has turned into a contest of wills over a much broader geopolitical struggle.

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