European leaders have said that the US-China trade dispute is contributing to a global economic slowdown.
Speaking in the Japanese city of Osaka, where representatives of the world’s top economies are gathering for the two-day G20 summit, Jean-Claude Juncker said: “The trade relations between China and the US are difficult, they are contributing to the slowdown of the global economy.
The European Commission president added: “In our talks, both with the US and the Chinese authorities… I was drawing their attention to the harmful impact this controversial matter is creating.”
The summit comes at a time of increased tensions over trade, particularly between the world’s two largest economies.
US President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday as the summit concludes and there are hopes this meeting could bring an end to the dispute.
But it could instead see Mr Trump slap further tariffs on Chinese products as part of his “America first” stance.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Mr Trump’s threats to impose further tariffs “won’t work on us because the Chinese people don’t believe in heresy and are not afraid of pressure”.
There are other issues expected to be discussed at the G20 summit – Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe and the French president Emmanuel Macron have, for example, sought to promote discussions on climate change.
British prime minister Theresa May will be urging stronger cooperation between governments and tech companies to stop terrorists from broadcasting their atrocities.
But the other main issue will be Iran, which is not represented at the summit.
Tensions between Iran and the US have been rising since the US pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal that world powers signed with Iran, and reinstated crushing sanctions on its economy.
The US president said earlier this week that he would authorise a response of “great and overwhelming force” if the Middle Eastern nation attacked “anything American” – adding that some areas would face “obliteration”.
At the summit Mr Xi said the region was “standing at a crossroads of war and peace”.
He called for calm, adding: “China always stands on the side of peace and opposes war.
“All parties must remain calm and exercise restraint, strengthen dialogue and consultations, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability.”
Mr Macron added: “I want to convince Trump that it is in his interest to reopen a negotiation process (and) go back on certain sanctions to give negotiations a chance.”