(Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. U.S. President Donald Trump said trade talks with China are back on after Beijing requested negotiations, easing immediate tensions after a weekend of tit-for-tat tariffs rocked financial markets and fueled fears that the standoff would drag the global economy into recession.Speaking at the Group of 7 meetings in Biarritz, France, Trump said U.S. officials received two “very productive” calls from Chinese counterparts and he also lauded President Xi Jinping as a “great leader.” A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry wasn’t able to confirm the details of the phone calls on Monday, while a leading editor at a state-run newspaper said Trump exaggerated the significance of the trade contacts. “You can say we’re having very meaningful talks, much more meaningful than I would say at any time frankly,” Trump said while meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday. “Maybe I’m wrong but we’re in a stronger position now to do a deal, a fair deal for everyone,” he added.The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose after Trump commented on the chances for a China deal. Earlier U.S. equity-future indexes increased on optimism that talks would restart. In Asia, shares on all major indexes declined led by Hong Kong which fell 2.3%.Trump’s comments mark the latest twist in months of negotiations that have seen moments of optimism give way to even greater escalation. While the two sides have at times appeared close to a deal, China has balked at U.S. demands for market-based reforms in areas like state-run enterprises that could jeopardize the Communist Party’s grip on power. Beijing’s retaliation on Friday to an earlier U.S. tariff hike led to yet another increase from Trump, who said that existing 25% tariffs on some $250 billion in imports from China would rise to 30% come Oct. 1, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Morgan Stanley warned that the spiral of trade measures could result in a global downturn within nine months.Asked Monday if he would delay tariffs on China, Trump said “anything’s possible.” “China called last night our trade people and said let’s get back to the table,” Trump said earlier on Monday. “Now we’re dealing on proper terms, they understand and we understand. But that’s a great thing that happened, and they want to get something done. Now maybe it won’t get done, but this is the first time I’ve seen them where they really do want to make a deal, and I think that’s a very positive step.”Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China’s Global Times newspaper, said Monday that top trade negotiators hadn’t spoken by phone in recent days. China has consistently agreed to engage in talks even with tariff escalations taking place. A round of negotiations that had been planned for September had not formally been called off after Trump pivoted to further tariff increases even after an apparent detente between the two sides in Shanghai last month.Earlier on Monday, China’s top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, used a public appearance in China to call for a de-escalation in tensions.“We are willing to solve the problem through consultation and cooperation with a calm attitude,” Liu said at the opening ceremony of 2019 Smart China Expo in Chongqing, Caixin reported. “We firmly oppose the escalation of the trade war,” he said, adding that it “is not conducive to China, the U.S. and the interests of people all over the world.”China’s stance now has been referred to as “talking while fighting,” and officials continue to pledge that they’ll meet Trump’s trade measures with their own response even as they stress readiness to negotiate.China’s retaliatory measures from Friday aim at the heart of Trump’s political support -- factories and farms across the Midwest and South at a time when the U.S. economy is showing signs of slowing down. Soybeans and other agricultural goods were targets, as were autos from Daimler AG and BMW AG that are made in the U.S.Trump tweeted over the weekend that the U.S. “would be far better off” without China, and claimed he could order U.S. businesses to withdraw from the country.China will follow through with retaliatory measures announced Friday and fight the trade war to the end, after the U.S. failed to keep its promises, the Communist Party flagship newspaper People’s Daily wrote in a Saturday editorial. Later, the Editor-in-Chief of the nationalist Global Times, Hu Xijin, said on Twitter that the U.S. is “starting to lose China.”Taoran Notes, a blog run by the state Economic Daily, said Monday that Liu’s remarks showed that China is not being “taken hostage by emotions.” At the same time, the blog said that this stance didn’t preclude fighting back.“If someone continues to misread China’s rational and calm attitude, and holds the illusion that they can continue maximum pressure and China won’t fight back, then China has no other option but to retaliate as in the past.”(Updates with Trump)To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Miao Han in Beijing at mhan22@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 05:59:50 -0400

Syrian opposition activists say airstrikes targeting the country's last major rebel stronghold, the northwestern province of Idlib, have killed three civilians, including a woman and her child. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the airstrikes hit in the village of Basqala on the southern edge of Idlib. The opposition's Syrian Civil Defense rescue group, also known as White Helmets, said its members helped treat the wounded and handed over the bodies of the dead to their families in Basqala.

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 05:41:33 -0400

US President Donald Trump said Monday that he had agreed to the Iranian foreign minister flying in for a G7 summit and insisted he was not seeking regime change in Tehran -- a change of tone that could lower tensions. Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise appearance at the summit in Biarritz on Sunday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking to broker a deal between Iran and the United States.

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 05:37:32 -0400

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday offered an olive branch to China after days of intense feuding over trade and opened the door to diplomacy on Iran, easing tension on the last day of a strained G7 summit. The leaders of the world's major industrialised nations, meeting in the French coastal resort of Biarritz, look set to reach an agreement on how to help fight the Amazon forest fires and try to repair the devastation.

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 05:30:40 -0400

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military on Monday to cut fuel transfers to Gaza in half in response to rocket attacks from the coastal strip, raising tensions along Israel's southern border in addition to a renewed threat from the north amid reported Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Israel said the blast was a Palestinian attack. The flurry of activity comes amid a massive manhunt by Israeli troops for the 17-year-old's killers and dire warnings from Lebanon's Hezbollah leader of an imminent attack, just weeks before an unprecedented repeat Israeli election.

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 05:25:42 -0400