Trump says prepared for G20 meeting with China’s Xi

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 9, 2017, US President Donald Trump (L) shakes hand with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing. – US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss trade on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Argentina this month, a senior US official said November 13, 2018. Top White House economic aide Larry Kudlow said the high-level efforts continue to resolve the US-China trade war, and follow Trump’s recent telephone call with Xi.”Right now we’re having communications at all levels of US and Chinese government,” Kudlow told CNBC. (Photo by Fred DUFOUR / AFP)

PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday he was “very prepared” for a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week at the G20 summit in Argentina, and suggested a deal could be reached to end the trade war.

The president will meet Xi on the sidelines of the summit, which is taking place from November 30 to December 1 in Buenos Aires.

“I have been preparing for it all my life,” he told journalists at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, where he gave a lengthy press conference after a Thanksgiving day telephone address to US troops deployed overseas.

“I know every ingredient, every stat. I know it better than everybody knows it. My gut is always right,” he said of his preparations.

Beijing and Washington have been locked in a trade war since this summer, with the US imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese goods worth $250 billion per year. In retaliation, China imposed tariffs on $110 billion of US goods.

Washington has threatened to toughen measures even further if the issue is not resolved before January.

“China wants to make a deal. If we can make a deal, we will,” Trump said.

He also hailed his “great relationship” with Xi.

“I like him a lot. I think he likes me. Probably likes me less now than he did before we did what we’re doing,” he quipped.