Negotiators for the U.S. and China will face off in Shanghai this week in another attempt to piece together a trade accord amid much lowered expectations for the kind of sweeping deal that appeared within reach this spring.
People close to the talks said a major breakthrough is unlikely on points that led to negotiations breaking down in early May, but that modest wins might be obtainable. That includes the U.S. insistence that China commit to legal changes to protect intellectual property and abandon state subsidies to business, and Beijing’s demands that the U.S. drop all tariffs as a condition for a deal.
President Trump played down the odds of a significant breakthrough. “I don’t know if they’re going to make a deal,” he said Friday. “Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.”
