Developments on the U.S.-China trade front continue to see mixed reports emerge. President Donald Trump on Monday said “Phase One” trade talks with China were ahead of schedule. “We are looking probably to be ahead of schedule to sign a very big portion of the China deal, and we will call it phase one but it is a very big portion,” Trump said. “That would take care of the farmers. It would take care of some of the other things. It will also take care of a lot of the banking needs.”
The agreement is expected to be signed when Trump and Chinese leader attend the APEC summit November 16-17 in Chile.
“So we are about, I would say, a little bit ahead of schedule, maybe a lot ahead of schedule,” the president said. “Probably we will sign it.”
However, Tuesday saw Reuters quote a Trump administration official as saying that the pact may not be ready to sign by the November APEC meeting. Financial markets took the development as a negative even as the report also quoted the official as saying that if the agreement was not ready for signing, it did not mean that the talks have fallen apart.
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