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Finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Japan this weekend will try as usual to make headway on longstanding issues such as how much global giants like Facebook and Amazon should pay in taxes.

They're likely to end up focusing much of their attention on how to keep global growth on track when the world's two biggest economies are entrenched in an escalating trade war.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has headed trade talks with Beijing along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, was due to meet with Yi Gang, governor of China's central bank, on the sidelines of the G-20's annual financial powwow, in this southern Japanese city.

But it was unclear if their meeting might lead to a restart of those talks after weeks of stalemate.