Ping-pong diplomacy: Trump, Xi agree to restart US-China trade talks

In a repetition of what happened on the sidelines of Buenos Aires G20 summit last year, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met ahead of the Osaka G20 Summit and agreed to restart talks on trade. Talks between both sides had fallen apart earlier, after which the US increased tariffs on Chinese goods and Bejing hiked duties on American goods. 

US president Donald Trump, speaking at a press conference in Osaka, said, "We had a great meeting. We will be continuing to negotiate and I promised that at least for the time being we are not going to lift tariffs on China"

Trump announced that Bejing is going to buy US agriculture products which will help American farmers.

Explaining that the US had never had a "real deal with China", Trump said, "We are going to work with China....China is going to start spending money on our great farmers".

Referring to US-China Ping Pong diplomacy, Chinese President Xi Jinping before the bilateral said both sides should "advance our relationship based on coordination, cooperation and stability"

Ping-pong diplomacy of the 1970s between US and China began in Japan's Nagoya with exchanges between Table tennis or ping pong players of the US and China and resulted in a visit by US President Richard Nixon in 1972.

US and China are in the mid of full-blown trade war with both sides imposing trade tariffs on each other. Washington later blacklisted China-based Huawei. The trade war threatens global economic stability and in this backdrop, G20 leaders met at the 14th summit.