Liu He is said to have extended an invite to Lighthizer and Mnuchin last week
This according to the Wall St Journal, citing unnamed sources. The report says that China has invited US trade negotiators for a new round of face-to-face talks in Beijing.
The invitation was made during a phone call between the two parties last week and that Liu He extended the invite to Robert Lighthizer and Steven Mnuchin.
However, it is said that the US camp is a bit reluctant to make the trip unless China makes clear that it would make commitments on IP protection, forced technology transfer and agricultural purchases. The full report can be found here.
The headline has given risk trades a stronger push on the day as China is hoping for a meeting before Thanksgiving, which means hopes of a deal may not extend into 2020.
All that said, I think this shows that there is some form of impasse that both sides are actually really struggling to resolve. Hence, the need for another face-to-face meeting.
This fits well into the narrative that I pointed out earlier today:
"I still don't think a deal is that close to being struck but who really knows how much the two sides are actually negotiating behind the scenes to make things work.There is no doubt the signs are ominous and I think markets are severely underpricing odds of talks collapsing at any given time from hereon. But we'll see how things play out.I reckon there may be another face-to-face meeting to try and resolve the differences and if that fails, perhaps that would be the end of the current phase of negotiations (again)."
