High hopes for Xi-Trump meet at G20 summit

World leaders attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, have high expectations for a productive meeting on Saturday between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. Indeed, the whole world is watching.

The reason is simple. The trade war started by the US administration more than a year ago against not only China, but also many other countries, has greatly disrupted global supply chains, dampened investors' zeal, hurt consumers and endangered the future of the global economy.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said this week that increased US-China tariffs, including recent actions and announcements as well as those implemented last year, could reduce the global GDP by 0.5 percent in 2020, or about $455 billion.

That is just the beginning if leaders of the two largest economies don't reverse the course of the past year.

It is futile to talk about who will suffer more in a tariff war that is more than mutually destructive. It will hurt everyone in a globalized economy. The fact that consumers, manufacturers and the world economy have fallen victim to such a war is now a proven fact.

Contrary to what Trump has claimed, US companies and consumers are paying for the punitive tariffs he slapped on China, according to Goldman Sachs, an investment bank and financial services company, and many leading US economists and institutions.

Like any other countries, China and the US have issues in trade, investment and other fields. As they engage more in each other, more problems may crop up. But it is wrong for the US administration to try to resolve all the issues through a trade war by abusing its power as the world's largest economy. Dialogue and consultations are the way out.

For years, China and the US had engaged in annual Strategic and Economic Dialogues and Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade to resolve trade and investment issues. The incremental progress, as I heard from some former US Commerce Department officials, was quite helpful.

Sadly, that kind of mood seems like a thing of the past. The so-called trade war in the past year has gone way beyond trade. It has affected the overall relationship.

We have seen the US government waging a technology war against China by barring US companies from doing business with Chinese technology giant Huawei and other Chinese tech firms. We have seen the tightening of visas for Chinese students and scholars going to the US, and we have seen top US officials, such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, going around the world slamming China's Belt and Road Initiative and threatening US allies in Europe and Asia who plan to include Huawei in their 5G networks.

There has been a deep concern among the business communities and world leaders about the decoupling of the two economies as advocated by some hawkish elements in the US government. Many have sounded the alarm of a new cold war, which would be disastrous for the entire world.

The past meetings between Xi and Trump have played an important role in stabilizing and charting the course for bilateral relations. While it is unrealistic to expect Saturday's meeting to solve all the problems, it is hoped they will help halt the relationship from further deterioration.

Talking about China-US relations, Harvard University scholar Joseph Nye said two months ago that "we're condemned to cooperate, because if we don't, we are really just condemned".

He was referring to a host of global challenges, such as transnational terrorism and pandemics that require close and effective cooperation between China and the US. And both China and the US should unite the world. That is the historic mission for the two leaders and the expectation of the world as they meet in Osaka on Saturday.

The author is chief of China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels.