US and Chinese officials say a trade war deal is ‘extremely’ likely

Washington and Beijing are likely to strike a deal that will end the trade war that has affected more than US$360 billion worth of two-way trade.

US President Donald Trump and China’s Vice-Premier Liu He, who is leading a delegation from Beijing in Washington this week, both expressed optimism about an end to the stand-off, while officials involved in the talks confirmed that Liu’s delegation would remain in the US for two additional days to address all outstanding demands.

“I would say it’s probably more likely that a deal does happen,” Trump told reporters on Friday, during an Oval Office meeting with Liu and other members of both the US and Chinese trade delegations.

“From China’s perspective, firstly, we believe that it is extremely likely that [a deal] will happen,” said Liu, who was seated alongside US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

A final agreement to end the trade war – in which Washington has levied taxes on US$250 billion of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate with tariffs on US$110 billion of US imports – would require a face-to-face discussion with China’s President Xi Jinping, Trump said, adding that such a meeting would “probably” take place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida “fairly soon in the month of March”.

Negotiating teams from both countries have worked around the clock to frame a deal to extend the trade war truce past the March 1 deadline set during the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December, with details of China’s offers in the negotiations beginning to leak out before Liu’s face-to-face session with Trump.