US President Donald Trump made it clear that trade is his top priority at the G20 summit, while Xi Jinping warned against rising protectionism, and India, Japan and Russia defended the rules of multilateral trade, Reuters reported.

Trump, who is conducting a series of meetings on the sidelines with world leaders, including Japanese Shinzo Abe and Indian Narendra Modi, said he sees an improvement in US trade prospects a few days after he criticized the US-Japan security agreement and demanded that New York Delhi has canceled the response rates.

“I think we’re going to have some very big things to announce. Very big trade deal. We’re doing some very big things with India in terms of trade, in terms of manufacturing,” Trump said at the start of talks with the Indian prime minister.

Trump, who is to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, also tried to discuss US concerns about Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer Huawei at its meetings.

Washington pressured its allies to shun Huawei when building 5G networks for security reasons.

Asian stocks fell during the day amid growing doubts that the long-awaited meeting of Trump and Xi would ease trade tensions.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that US-Chinese trade relations are complex.

“The trade relations between China and the United States are difficult, they are contributing to the slowdown of the global economy,” he told a news conference.

Xi also warned about the protectionist steps that, according to him, are being taken by some developed countries.

“All this is destroying the global trade order... This also impacts common interests of our countries, overshadows the peace and stability world wide,” Xi told a gathering of leaders of the BRICS grouping of nations on the sidelines of the G20 meet.