WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Tuesday that he had spoken with President Xi Jinping of China and that the two would have an “extended” meeting at the Group of 20 meeting next week in Osaka, Japan.
His comments were the first confirmation that the two leaders would actually meet after trade talks stalled in May and suggested the two countries are once again trying to find compromise.
“Had a very good telephone conversation with President Xi of China,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter. “We will be having an extended meeting next week at the G-20 in Japan. Our respective teams will begin talks prior to our meeting.”
Stocks jumped after the president’s message was posted on Twitter. The S&P 500 rose more than 1 percent shortly after the start of trading on Wall Street, led by technology and industrial shares, which have been weighed down by the trade war over the last year.
Progress toward a trade agreement between the world’s two largest economies came to a halt last month, after Mr. Trump accused China of breaking a deal with the United States and China accused the United States of failing to negotiate in good faith. Mr. Trump has raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods as punishment and threatened to tax an additional $300 billion worth of goods — nearly all imports from China — if the country did not agree to America’s trade terms.
A meeting between the presidents and their deputies are a signal that the two countries are once again seeking a path forward on a trade agreement that would open Chinese markets, strengthen its protections for intellectual property and result in purchases of American products.
In an article posted late on Tuesday on the website of China Central Television, the official broadcaster, Mr. Xi said he stressed to Mr. Trump that “that the two countries should resolve economic and trade issues through dialogue on even ground, and the key is to accommodate each other’s reasonable concerns. We also hope that the U.S. will treat Chinese companies fairly.”
“I agree that the economic and trade teams of the two countries should maintain communication on how to resolve differences,” Mr. Xi said, according to the article.
Still, the two sides remain far apart on several issues, including how many of Mr. Trump’s tariffs on roughly $250 billion of Chinese products will come off and whether the trade agreement must be codified in Chinese law.
Both sides are under economic pressure to come to an agreement.
On Monday, dozens of executives from toymakers, clothing companies, port operators and telecom providers came to Washington to testify in the first of seven days of hearings about how the next round of tariffs on $300 billion worth of goods would affect them.
While many said they supported the administration’s attempts to reach a more level playing field with China on trade, most protested the tariffs, saying they would raise costs for consumers, disrupt supply chains and could force them to lay off employees or go out of business.
Hun Quach, vice president for international trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, which represents big retail stores like Walmart and Costco, said that she would testify this week against having retailers and consumers bear the brunt of the trade war.
“We support holding our trading partners accountable, but tariffs on clothing, shoes, consumer electronics, and toys aren’t the solution to China’s bad practices,” Ms. Quach said.