All eyes on US-China trade talks today – Deutsche Bank

In opinion of analysts at Deutsche Bank, today all eyes will be on any soundbites we get from the latest on the US-China trade talks as Mnuchin and Lighthizer are meeting China President Xi Jinping. 

Key Quotes

“At the moment we haven’t heard of any scheduled post-meeting press conferences however that could all change. Yesterday’s comments from Kudlow about there being “no decision” on extending a deadline for imposing higher tariffs on China and the Bloomberg headline about both sides being “far apart on reform demands” appeared to take some of the sting out of markets.”

“The reports suggested that USTR Lighthizer is pushing for strict timelines and specific deliverables to ensure a robust verification mechanism, but China is resisting the measures as an unfair infringement on their sovereignty. In fairness, the stories make sense in connection with other recent reports that the two sides may push for an extension in order to buy more time.”

“In the meantime, the Financial Times has reported overnight that the US and China were scrambling to reach at least a “memorandum of understanding” by the end of today’s meeting so as to pave the way for a meeting between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.”