Prime Minister Scott Morrison will raise the need for a set of clear principles for technology companies when he meets other world leaders at the G20 in Japan on Friday and Saturday.

He wrote to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the wake of the Christchurch mosque massacre in March asking that the G20 address the role of internet and tech companies.

Since then, Australia has had positive feedback about its plan but officials acknowledge it is sometimes hard to reach a consensus at big global summits.

Mr Morrison's other main focus will be on the global economy and trading rules.

Trade tensions between the United States and China are once again threatening to overshadow the wider G20 talks between leaders of major nations.

Similar to the meeting last November, US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to meet on the sidelines of the summit in Osaka to see if they can reach a trade deal and end the escalation of tariffs.

Ahead of flying to Japan, Mr Morrison indicated Australia would be taking a more assertive stance on the growing trade war.

In his first major foreign policy speech since the May election, he said the tensions were destabilising the global order and warned of the need to stem the spread of collateral damage.

"We should not just sit back and passively await our fate in the wake of a major power contest. There are practical steps that we can pursue," he said on Wednesday.

He earlier said the global economy's fundamentals were strong and the only barrier to getting it back on track was a political one with the US and China seemingly unable to resolve "some pretty significant issues".

Nevertheless, he was optimistic about the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Xi

Mr Morrison says America holds legitimate concerns that the existing rules-based trading system can't cope with China's economic structure and policies when it came to forced technology transfer, theft of intellectual property and industrial subsidies.

"The rules-based system is in need of urgent repair if it is to adequately respond to these new challenges," he said.

Leaders will discuss the global economy and modernisation of the World Trade Organisation rules at their first session on Friday morning.

The 2018 summit resulted in a general call to push that WTO reform, and Australia sees this as the minimum result to be hoped for this time.

Other topics expected to weigh heavily on the minds of the leaders include the escalation situations in Iran and North Korea.

Mr Morrison is hoping to meet one-on-one with many leaders attending the G20, including Mr Trump.

He also hopes to re-connect with other leaders who, like him, have been freshly endorsed by voters, including Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian president Joko Widodo.

Australian Associated Press