Protesters rush Beijing delegation as US-China trade war talks start with meeting between VP Liu He and USTR Robert Lighthizer

China’s trade delegation was given a jolting start to its visit to Washington on Wednesday when it was confronted by Chinese protesters en route to the site of the first of two days of high-stakes negotiations.

The demonstrators, reported by Bloomberg to have been protesting Beijing’s forced relocation of Chinese citizens, rushed the delegation as it left Washington’s Willard Hotel. Video footage of the scuffle shows one woman being knocked down by security personnel.

The delegation, led by China’s Vice-Premier Liu He, soon arrived at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, where cabinet ministers will spend two days trying to narrow the gap in the countries’ positions in a trade war that is in its seventh month.

Among the priorities are protection of US intellectual property, the forced transfer of US technology through joint ventures, and enforcement mechanisms to verify that China follows through on any promised changes.

The talks, led by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the American side, come two-thirds of the way into a 90-day truce agreed upon by the countries’ presidents on December 1 on the sideline of the G20 summit in Argentina.

Mid-level discussions since then have done little to narrow the gap, and with time running out before the March 1 deadline – after which the US is expected to increase tariffs again – both sides will be eager to make significant progress this week before the Chinese government effectively shuts down for the Lunar New Year holiday next week.

Highlighting the high-stakes nature of this week’s discussions is a scheduled face-to-face meeting between US President Donald Trump and Liu on Thursday.