The most notable news from Osaka so far are sourced stories about what "Chinese officials" plan to demand from the US. As the title of this Wall Street Journal article indicates, it's nothing short of the moon:
This is striking because stories prior to today indicated a posture of partnership. Either the warring factions of the State Council in Beijing are at it again ahead of this momentous summit, or Xi is trying to keep Trump off balance. China is allegedly asking that the U.S. lift all tariffs and drop efforts to get China to buy more U.S. exports. This seems like a very large (and unlikely) ask.
Trump’s meetings have started, he just tweeted a picture with PM Scott Morrison from Australia after a dinner meeting in Osaka. The White House Twitter feed noted that “After arriving in Osaka, President Trump had dinner with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia in advance of the #G20 Summit. They discussed several pressing, shared challenges, including Iran and North Korea.”
Here's the schedule. The bold text denotes Eastern Standard Time, and the one line in all bold is the Trump-Xi meeting. Here's a link to the G20 website, and another to Japan's G20 host site.
June 28 Osaka:
8:00 AM Friday June 28 Osaka/7:00 PM Thursday June 27 EST: Press briefing with Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and JC Junker, President of the European Commission
8:30 AM Friday June 28 Osaka/7:30 PM Thursday June 27 EST: Trump meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
9:15 AM Friday June 28 Osaka/8:15 PM Thursday June 27 EST: Trump and Prime Minister Abe will be joined by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, followed by a separate meeting between Trump and Modi at 9:35 AM Osaka/8:35 PM Thursday June 27 EST
10:15 AM Friday June 28 Osaka/9:15 PM Thursday June 27 EST: Trump will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
2:00 PM Friday June 28 Osaka/1:00 AM Friday June 28 EST: Trump meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin
3:00 PM Friday June 28 Osaka/2:00 AM Friday June 28 EST: Trump meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
June 29 Osaka:
8:15 AM Saturday June 29 Osaka/7:15 PM Friday June 28 EST: Trump will have breakfast with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
11:30 AM Saturday June 29 Osaka/10:30 PM Friday June 28 EST: Trump meeting with Chinese President Xi
1:05 PM Saturday June 29 Osaka/12:05 AM Saturday June 29 EST: Trump meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Subscribe to our evening newsletter to stay informed during these challenging times!!