Trump, Xi calls ceasefire in trade war at G20 talks

Buenos Aires, Dec 3: While the cancellation of US President Donald Trump's meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the recently held G20 summit in the Argentianian capital was a low point, his successful meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was undoubtedly a high moment.

Trump and Xi met over dinner on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday, the concluding day, and decided to stop the escalation of the trade war with a promise of not imposing new tariffs for a period of 90 days.

The leaders of the world's two biggest economies that have been at loggerheads over trade of late, also agreed to intensify their trade-related interactions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi informed the media hours later here.

"Both sides believe that the principled agreement reached between the two presidents has effectively prevented the further expansion of economic frictions between the two countries," he was quoted as saying.

Washington called the meeting "highly successful" and said that the US will leave the existing tariffs on Chinese goods worth $200 billion at 10 per cent and stop short of raising the rate to 25 per cent as planned on January 1, 2019.