U.S. Weighing Trump-Xi Summit as Trade Deadline Nears, Sources Say

(Bloomberg) -- White House officials are discussing a possible summit on trade between President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping as early as next month, according to people familiar with the matter, as trade talks in Washington reach a crucial point.

The meeting, which could take place in late March at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, would seek to resolve months of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The two sides have been trying to reach a deal before American tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports more than double to 25 percent on March 2.

Trump is scheduled to meet Friday afternoon with China’s trade envoy, Vice Premier Liu He, who is leading a delegation to Washington this week for the latest phase in negotiations.

The series of meetings in Beijing and Washington in recent weeks has been aimed at forging a deal envisioned by the two leaders at a Dec. 1 dinner in Buenos Aires. They agreed at the time to hold off on escalating the trade war for 90 days while their administrations sought common ground on issues ranging from intellectual-property theft to soybean purchases.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jenny Leonard in Washington at jleonard67@bloomberg.net;Saleha Mohsin in Washington at smohsin2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sarah McGregor at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net, Randall Woods

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