The Group of 20 summit later this month could lead to progress towards a trade deal with China but is not the venue for a "definitive agreement," US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday.
A day after President Donald Trump threatened to hit China with a new round of tariffs "immediately" if President Xi Jinping fails to meet with him in Tokyo, Ross defended Washington's aggressive tariff strategy.
Talks between Washington and Beijing broke down last month after Trump accused China of reneging on commitments and after the United States took aim against China's tech behemoth Huawei.
The countries have hit each other steep tariffs on more than $360 billion in bilateral trade, rattling financial markets and business confidence. The impasse has raised expectations that Xi and Trump might jumpstart the talks in Osaka on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit.
However Ross tamped down expectations for a final agreement which "is going to be thousands of pages." "At the G20, at most, it will be a 40,000-foot level, some sort of agreement on a path forward," Ross told CNBC. "It's certainly not going to be a definitive agreement." But he said there eventually will be a deal.
"Even shooting wars end in negotiation."