U.S. President Donald Trump said "it doesn't matter" if Chinese President Xi Jinping agrees to meet with him later this month during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka to restart negotiations over trade because the United States is collecting billions of dollars in tariffs on goods from the country.
"If he shows up, good," Trump told Fox News on Friday. "If he doesn't — in the meantime, we're taking in billions of dollars a month." He added: "Eventually, they're going to make a deal, because they're going to have to. Look, they're paying hundreds of billions of dollars."
Trump has repeatedly threatened to raise tariffs if Xi doesn't meet with him at the G20 leaders' meeting June 28-29. Trump is committed to attending the G20 regardless of whether he meets with Xi, U.S. officials said. Trump said on Wednesday that he had no deadline for China to return to trade talks.