Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will seek a truce in their tit-for-tat trade war on Thursday, with the US president predicting a “great meeting” but Beijing being more circumspect.

The tussle between the world’s top two economies, which encompasses everything from rare earths to soybeans and port fees, has rocked markets and gummed up supply chains for months.

Following productive preparatory talks by top officials, Trump said a day before his first face-to-face encounter with Xi since 2019 that “a lot of problems are going to be solved”.

“We have been talking to them, we’re not just walking into the meeting cold… I think we’re going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world, actually,” he said en route to South Korea, where the meeting will take place.

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