ExclusiveTrade war: China’s top negotiator Liu He to visit US for phase one deal signing this week, source says

Vice-Premier Liu He has accepted an invitation to lead a delegation to the US from this Saturday, a source briefed on the matter told the Post

US trade representative Robert Lighthizer previously said phase one trade deal would be signed in the first week of January

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China's Vice-Premier Liu He speaks with US President Donald Trump during a trade meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:00pm, 30 Dec 2019Updated: 12:33pm, 15 Feb 2020

Vice-Premier Liu He is set to lead a delegation to Washington this Saturday, where he is expected to sign a phase one deal that would significantly de-escalate the US-China trade war, a source briefed on the matter has told the South China Morning Post.

“Washington has sent an invitation and Beijing has accepted it,” said the source, who declined to be named due to the highly sensitive nature of the information. The Chinese delegation is expected to stay “a few days” in the US until the middle of next week, the source added.

Neither side has officially confirmed the trip. China’s Ministry of Commerce was not immediately available for comment.

The signing of a phase one deal during Liu’s trip would mark a point of truce in the bitter trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, one that is expected to boost global markets and brighten increasingly gloomy outlooks for economic growth.

In addition, it could help to ease bilateral tensions between China and the US, which in recent months have grown more fraught, as US lawmakers moved to implement human rights and democracy legislation related to Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

US President Donald Trump said before Christmas that he would “ultimately” have a signing ceremony with President Xi Jinping.

“We will be having a signing ceremony, yes,” Trump told reporters. “We will ultimately, yes, when we get together,” he told reporters in Florida.

US trade representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said on December 13 that officials from both countries would sign the phase one trade deal “in the first week of January”.

The Chinese side has never confirmed the date of the signing, and there appears to be no indication that Trump and Xi will meet in the coming weeks.