Trump Plans Breakfast With Saudi Crown Prince Before Xi Meeting at G-20 Summit

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump will have breakfast with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman before a high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said.

The meetings are two of Trump’s most closely watched events at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

Saudi Arabia’s relations with Washington have been shattered over the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate and the long-running war in Yemen, which the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. U.S. lawmakers have sought to cut off weapons sales to the kingdom over the war, though Trump has so far blocked the move.

The meeting with Xi, at 11:30 a.m. in Osaka, is a crucial turning point for troubled U.S. trade talks with China. Trump said Wednesday that substantial additional U.S. tariffs would be placed on goods from China if there’s no progress on a trade deal after the meeting. Talks hit an impasse in May after the U.S. accused Beijing of reneging on provisions of a tentative deal.

Here is Trump’s schedule in Japan, outlined by Gidley for reporters traveling with the president to Osaka.

June 27

• Upon arriving in Japan, Trump will have dinner with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The U.S. trade war with China is expected to be a topic of discussions.

June 28

• Trump will meet at 8:30 a.m. in Osaka with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who enjoys about the best relationship with the mercurial U.S. president of any world leader. He’s trying to play a role in lowering tensions between the U.S. and Iran and North Korea, but is also attempting to keep Trump from imposing tariffs on Japanese auto exports to the U.S.
• Trump and Abe will be joined by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 9:15 a.m., followed by a separate meeting between Trump and Modi. Trump recently expanded his trade war to include India by terminating a special trade status that reduced tariffs for the country’s exports to the U.S.
• Trump will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 10:15 a.m. It will be their first extensive meeting since Merkel delivered what was widely regarded as a pointed rebuke to Trump’s policies in a commencement speech at Harvard University in May, calling on graduates to “tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness, for nothing has to stay as it is.”
• Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 2:00 p.m. Putin and Trump are expected to focus on regional security, arms control and improving relations between the two countries, a U.S. official said. Trump canceled a planned meeting with Putin at the G-20 in November after Russia captured Ukrainian ships and sailors in a Black Sea naval clash. Those sailors and ships have yet to be returned. Asked before departing for Japan whether he would raise Russia’s interference in U.S. elections in the meeting, Trump told reporters “it’s none of your business.”
• Trump meets with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at 3:00 p.m. Bolsonaro and Trump share similar nationalist political ideologies and Bolsonaro has been dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics.”

June 29

• Trump will have breakfast with Prince Mohammed at 8:15 a.m.
• He meets with Xi at 11:30 a.m.
• Trump meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at 1:05 p.m. The two leaders have maintained warm relations even as the overall U.S. relationship with Turkey, a NATO ally, has deteriorated over Erdogan’s turn toward autocracy and increasing friction between their governments. The U.S. is preparing sanctions on Turkey if it proceeds with the planned purchase of a Russian anti-aircraft missile system.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Shannon Pettypiece in Washington at spettypiece@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu

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