Trump and Xi Jinping to sit down for dinner at G20 as trade war rages between US and China

'Perhaps we can break through in Buenos Aires or not,' says top White House adviser

All eyes will be on Donald Trump and China's leader Xi Jingping when the two men meet for a crucial dinner on Saturday as their respective countries wage a trade war.

Mr Trump's administration imposed tariffs on $250bn- (£195bn-) worth of Chinese goods earlier this year, only for China to retaliate with duties worth $110bn on US products.

WTO officials have previously warned the rift poses a grave threat to the global economy, putting millions of jobs at risk.

What the two men agree or disagree on during their meeting in Argentina will have a global impact, on both stock markets and future US trade policy.

Mr Trump and Mr Xi will both want to find a way out of the escalating conflict, but each leader needs to save face with domestic audiences at home.

"There's some good signs," said Mr Trump, on Friday, when asked about the prospect of a deal to end the conflict. "We'll see what happens."

Officials in his administration acknowledge that striking an agreement will not be easy.

The United States and China remain locked in a long-running dispute over their trade imbalance and Beijing's push to challenge the US' technological dominance.

Washington accuses China of deploying predatory tactics in its tech drive, including stealing trade secrets and forcing American firms to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market.

This has enraged Mr Trump, who has railed against China for what he sees as intellectual property theft, entry barriers to US business and a wide US trade deficit.

After General Motors, a US car giant, announced earlier this month that it was cutting five factories in North America, Mr Trump attacked the firm for building plants in China and Mexico.

The company is closing plants in Ohio, Maryland and Michigan, a move that will see 14,700 roles cut.

The US leader also hinted that his administration could impose tariffs on imported cars in response to the plant closures.

Mr Trump's dinner with Mr Xi is the most important event of his two-day trip to Buenos Aires for the G20 summit.

If a deal is not struck the US leader is likely to more than double the existing tariffs on Chinese goods from 1 January.

He has also threatened to expand the tariffs to virtually everything China ships to the United States.

China is likely to retaliate if Mr Trump pushes on with the trade war, further rattling financial markets. The conflict is already causing forecasters to downgrade the outlook for global economic growth.

It is unlikely a short dinner will resolve the myriad of disagreements between the two global leaders.

Analysts say that the more likely outcome is that Mr Trump and Mr Xi reach a truce, buying time for further talks.

But a lasting deal is likely to require the Chinese to scale back their ambitions to become a technological superpower.

Larry Kudlow, the White House's top economic adviser, said that the administration been "extremely disappointed" by China's engagement in trade talks.

He added that the dinner between Mr Trump and Mr Xi may still change the course of the declining relationship.

As the two administrations exchange barbs, the trade war is having an impact on ordinary people in the US.

Stock prices in the country have sunk this autumn and the conflict's effect is also being felt in the agricultural industry, after a 94 per cent cut in US soybean exports to China forced farmers in America's midwest to stockpile crops.

"Perhaps we can break through in Buenos Aires or not," Mr Kudlow said.

He added that if the US doesn't get "satisfactory" responses to its trade positions, more tariffs will be imposed.

Additional reporting by agencies