Hopes Rise as Trade Week Arrives

Reports Friday injected fresh optimism into the U.S.-China trade situation that had earlier last week started to rise with discussions announced for this week in Washington.Attention on the trade situation remains high and the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. and China were aiming at developing a strategy to try and repair trade tensions between the two and potentially set the stage for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.There are two international meetings set for November that would provide a backdrop for Trump and Xi to meet, presumably to put things to rest between the two on trade.All this unfolds as the U.S. Trade Representative starts six days of hearings on their proposed list of $200 billion in Chinese goods that would be targeted with tariffs of up to 25%. And, lower-level talks between the two countries are also set to take place Wednesday and Thursday in Washington – the initial source of trade optimism that surfaced last week.And the U.S. is poised to launch another round of tariffs on $16 billion in Chinese goods Thursday, with China promising to respond with tariffs on a like amount of U.S. goods.