The trade war has gotten very odd.
Days ago, President Trump said he would be open to an interim trade deal with China. Markets then shot higher on optimism.
Over the weekend, President Trump said there’s no need for a trade deal ahead of the 2020 election, as he rejected a partial agreement with China. China then canceled a trip to farmland in Montana. In fact, a representative for the Montana Farm Bureau Federation confirmed that the Chinese delegation intended to visit Montana farmland as a part of continuing discussions with the U.S. on trade, says MarketWatch, but China changed travel plans and would be leaving without a stop in Montana.
“This morning, we received word that they would no longer be visiting Montana but would instead, be returning to China sooner than originally planned,” said Nicole Griffin Rolf, director of national affairs at the MFBF. The visit by the Chinese delegation had been viewed as reflecting a thaw in a yearlong Sino-American tariff dispute.
There are renewed hopes for resolution
Now, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and U.S Trade Representative Robert Lightizer would meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in two weeks.
“It’s actually, I think it’s not next week, but the following week we’ll be having those talks,” Mnuchin said, as quoted by CNBC, adding that the two country’s negotiators had made some progress in easing their trade tensions in last week’s meetings.
In addition, China just allowed two to three million tons of soybeans to be imported from the U.S., tariff free – a potential sign of easing tensions.
In fact, according to Bloomberg, “The Chinese government has given new waivers to several domestic state and private companies to buy U.S. soybeans without being subject to retaliatory tariffs, according to people familiar with the situation.”
Hopefully, we’ll see more good news. Stay tuned for more on this developing story.
