U.S. President Donald Trump touched down in Osaka, Japan, early Thursday morning ahead of his third G20 summit meeting.
The list of items to be broached by leaders of the world’s top 20 economies is long, but trade is expected to dominate.
Long-awaited talks between Mr. Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, set for Saturday, will set the tone for the event.
The U.S. recently tightened restrictions on Chinese telco Huawei and other Chinese tech firms by putting them on a trade “blacklist”.
Beijing responded angrily with threats to reciprocate, and in recent weeks has increased scrutiny on American firms operating in China, including FedEx.
Mr Trump will also discuss the mass protests in Hong Kong with his Chinese counterpart, as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously foreshadowed.
Increasing tensions in the Middle East will also broached by Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Germany.
During his long flight to Japan, Mr. Trump took some time to tweet observations from Air Force One.
Just stopped in Alaska and said hello to our GREAT troops! pic.twitter.com/oLYn1mpaVm
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
“Sorry, I’m on Air Force One, off to save the Free World!” he wrote before later greeting U.S. troops during a refueling stop in Alaska.
Mr. Trump also predicted the Democrats were “all going to do very poorly” as he offered his thoughts on the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate debate that unfolded while he was in the air. His summation was succinctly reduced to one word:
BORING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
This year’s G20 summit will be held in the Japanese city of Osaka from June 28-29.
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