Trump and Xi unlikely to make a full deal, but both willing - Bloomberg

As reported earlier, comments from US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross noted that the upcoming Trump-Xi sideline meeting at the upcoming G20 summit is unlikely to produce much outside of a tentative framework looking forward, and Ross reaffirmed the US" intention to ramp up current tariffs on China, with a tariff rate hike to 25% due in January.

Key quotes

"The U.S. and China are now discussing the agenda for the two leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires and what a realistic outcome could be. 

It can’t be expected that the two presidents will “get into intimate details -- how much LNG and how much this and that. It’s going to be big picture, but if it goes well, it’ll set the framework for going forward," Ross said. “We certainly won’t have a full formal deal by January. Impossible.”

The U.S. has a long list of demands with 142 items, which will take some time to discuss “let alone to resolve them and let alone to put them on paper,” the secretary said.

Ross’s comments are a sign of what appears to be a growing appetite in the Trump administration to reach a deal with China to bring an end to the escalation of tit-for-tat tariffs that have unnerved investors and companies around the world. But they also were an acknowledgment of just how hard securing a deal will be."

China has also proved that it’s aware of its own commercial self-interest and the impact its own retaliatory measures were having on it, Ross said, pointing to Beijing’s decision to reduce a 25 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. LNG to 10 percent."

“The big event is going to be the one-on-one meeting with President Trump and President Xi at the G-20 down in Argentina. All this other stuff is just preparatory until that. That’ll set if there is going to be a real framework" ~ Wilbur Ross, via Bloomberg