The annual summit of the Group of 20 nations is under way in Osaka, Japan. At the top of the agenda is the ongoing trade war between China and the United States, the world's two biggest economies.

Axar.az reports citing AlJazeera that the G20 is an international leaders' forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union.

Collectively, the grouping represents more than 80 percent of the world's economic output and two-thirds of its people. Its primary aim is to promote international financial stability.

China's Xi says Gulf region is at a 'crossroads'

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday the Gulf region is now in a very sensitive situation and is "standing at a crossroads of war and peace", state media reported.

China always stands on the side of peace and opposes war, Xi told United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, state news agency Xinhua said.

'A fantastic woman'

After his meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump had a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom he called "a fantastic person, a fantastic woman."

Subjects discussed included Iran. Libya, supporting the economy of Ukraine, trade negotiations with China, and global trade standards more generally.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe greeted each of the G20 leaders one-by-one.

Trump's 'good cop, bad cop' act

Mason Richey, Professor of international relations at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul tells Al Jazeera:

"I think that Trump is going to be interested in playing up the positive side of the relationships that the US has with allies and strategic partners whether that be Japan, or whether that be NATO or whether that be India.

"And I think in some ways he’s perhaps playing good-cop-bad-cop with himself. He’s played bad cop with Japan and India on security issues and on trade issues. And now he’s a there playing up the positive side of the relationship, talking about how close the US relationship is with India and Japan."

Trump, Modi and Abe meet

US President Donald Trump arrived at the G20 Summit venue by car and was greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the host.

"We'll be discussing trade, we'll be discussing military," Trump told reporters, praising Japanese auto companies building plants in the US.

"The car companies have been terrific. They're coming in and they're building magnificent plants. We haven’t had that, and we very much appreciate it."

North Korea, Iran, and bilateral trade were issues raised in the discussions, though few details were offered.

Later, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined for a trilateral meeting. Abe described the grouping as "the foundation of peace and prosperity in the region."

As for US-India trade talks, Trump declared, "It'll be very positive ... I think we will just continue to get along with India ... I think we are going to have some very big things to announce. Very big trade deal."

In a tweet on Thursday, Trump said Indian tariffs on US products were "unacceptable."

Earlier this month, India imposed higher retaliatory tariffs on 28 US goods such as walnuts, almonds and apples.

That was in retaliation for Trump's move to scrap trade privileges under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for India, the biggest beneficiary of a scheme that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6bn a year.

Speaking of Iran, Trump stated, "We have a lot of time - there's no rush they can take their time. There is absolutely no time pressure. Hopefully in the end it's going to work out. If it does, great, if it doesn’t, you‘ll be hearing about it."