Donald Trump, the US president, has warned Xi Jinping, his Chinese counterpart, that a new round of tariffs would be levied on the country’s goods if the two leaders failed to meet at the G20 summit in Japan, as trade tensions continued to simmer between Washington and Beijing. 

In an interview with CNBC on Monday, Mr Trump said he believed there would be a bilateral meeting with Mr Xi in Osaka on the sidelines of the world leaders’ gathering later this month. The meeting has been widely seen as a chance for a new truce between the US and China. 

“I think the differences can be worked out very easily. I would be surprised if he didn’t go. I think he is going, I haven’t heard that he’s not,” Mr Trump said. But the US president added that levies on $300bn of additional Chinese imports would be imposed immediately if Mr Xi failed to show up, on top of a 25 per cent tariff in place now on $250bn of goods.