Tensions between the U.S. and China escalated in the weeks leading up to a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In response to recent U.S. restrictions,

A fter a months-long trade war between China and the United States, Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet Thursday in Korea. Both countries seem to be angling for a truce; over the weekend, they announced a “framework” for a possible agreement.

Economic relations between the two countries are more fraught than ever: in early October, for the second time in just six months, the United States and China launched a trade war, imposing prohibitive export restrictions and threatening to raise tariffs to previously unthinkable levels.

It needs the United States for defense and has spent billions building factories in America. But a Trump trade deal this week with China could erase a Korean edge in the U.S. market.

President Trump’s post raises technical questions about how and if the United States could “immediately” return to nuclear testing, and political considerations about the signaling behind nuclear testing and who would benefit most from a return to testing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will sit down with South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung on Saturday, capping an Asian summit at which Beijing and Washington agreed to a truce in their trade war.The Chinese leader now turns his attention to the South Korean President in what will be their first sit-down meeting since Lee's election in June.

Since the end of September, Iran has reportedly received from China 2000 tons of sodium perchlorate, a missile fuel precursor, enough for roughly 500 ballistic missiles, CNN reported on Wednesday. In February, CNN reported the shipment of 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate from China to Iran.

World shares have retreated and U.S. futures advanced after U.S. stocks fell back following President Donald Trump's meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping