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US-China trade war
ChinaDiplomacy

US-China trade deal near? Harvard scholar hints at progress in ‘very intense’ talks

Former US official Graham Allison says memorandum of understanding between two sides could come as early as next week

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Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, takes part in a session at the “Summer Davos” on Tuesday in Tianjin, China. Photo: EPA
Dewey Simin Tianjin

The United States and China could reach a trade agreement as early as next week, according to a Harvard scholar, who has offered clues on the state of negotiations just over a month after the rival economies agreed to a trade truce.

“We’re all sitting on the edge of our seats, waiting to see what comes out of the ongoing conversations between the two governments, but you can be sure they’re very intense currently,” Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, told a World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Tianjin on Thursday.
“I would be surprised if in the next week or so we do not see an MOU (memorandum of understanding) coming out of the discussions that have been going on between Bessent and He and their teams in the intermediate period,” he said, referring to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng, who have been leading the trade talks.
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Allison, who served as assistant secretary of defence under former US president Bill Clinton, said markets tended to behave unsympathetically, and when extreme measures like embargoes were introduced, “pretty soon you’ll look and see what happens in the real world that is unsustainable”.

02:09

China, US top negotiators agree on ‘framework’ that will need approval from Xi and Trump

China, US top negotiators agree on ‘framework’ that will need approval from Xi and Trump

On the heated US-China rivalry over export controls, he said both sides realised their respective domestic firms would face disruptions because of their measures.

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