Recent crash prompted country to re-examine pledge to buy jets.

Negotiators aim to close an agreement by April.

China’s move to ground Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jetliners following the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash has cast a shadow over the American planemaker’s immediate hopes for a major jet order linked to a U.S.-China trade deal, industry sources said.

Much of Trump’s wish list is pie-in-the-sky. If there is any paper agreement much beyond what China offered last May, it will consist largely of empty promises that China will be unable or unwilling to keep.

The China-US trade war is ultimately a war of attrition; both sides will lose and in the end, there will be no winner. It is inevitable the trade dispute will develop into to other dimensions of investment, finance, exchange rates, high technology, and other non-trade areas.

Both countries could lift some tariffs imposed last year, and Beijing would agree to ease restrictions on American products.

The Trump administration’s negotiation pattern historically has been to escalate tensions and then agree to a modest change. We should expect nothing less in the outcome of the China-US trade negotiations.

While President Trump claims that a trade deal is close at hand, it is unclear whether the US can entice China to concede to any of its key demands. It remains to be seen whether the negotiations will be successfully resolved and, most importantly, who will gain the upper hand.

China and the US must redefine their relationship.

The March 1 deadline to complete talks with Beijing is ‘not a magical date,’ U.S. president says.