Summary

There were two positive developments this week for those scouring the horizon for an end to the ongoing US-China trade war.

First was a tweet by US President Trump saying that a phone conversation had taken place with his Chinese counterpart, “with a heavy emphasis on trade… [and the] discussions are moving along nicely with meetings being schedule at the G-20 in Argentina.”

Second was a report from Bloomberg saying that the US president wants to reach a deal at the G-20 summit and has asked his cabinet to start drawing up potential terms.

While any new sign of momentum in bilateral trade talks can be taken as a positive, there’s still a wide gulf to be bridged between the two sides’ positions (at least what is known of them). And even if an agreement can be reached, the million-dollar question remains: Can US-China relations ever go back to the way they were?