China trade: Deal or no deal?

Is the relationship between the world's two biggest economies finally showing signs of improvement?

President Trump and Xi Jinping.
(Image credit: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

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As the Trump administration and Beijing appear to edge closer to a trade agreement, "China is emerging with wins," said Chao Deng and Lingling Wei at The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. agreed last week to suspend an imminent tariff hike on $250 bil­lion worth of Chinese imports; in return, President Trump said, China will buy up to $50 bil­lion in U.S. agricultural products. Beijing has pursued a "tit-for-tat strategy" on tariffs in the year-old trade war but has grown more open to a deal as it "runs out of ammunition on more U.S. imports to hit." Yet it's not clear what China is really willing to concede to secure a trade pact; even the billions supposed to go to U.S. agriculture may be more of an "aspiration" than a firm target. Despite that lack of firm commitments, Trump has played down the protests in Hong Kong to keep the trade talks on track — a success for Beijing. The two sides emerged from talks last week with different takes on what will be included in any eventual accord "and how close they are to signing a document," said Bloomberg. President Trump claimed to be very close to a "phase one" agreement, calling the latest talks a "lovefest" and saying that "we've come to a deal, pretty much, subject to getting it written." But China has been much more measured, saying only that progress has been made.

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