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Sides are scheduling more high-level in-person negotiations
- Sides working toward leaders’ signing summit late next month
Senior U.S. and Chinese officials are scheduling more face-to-face trade talks in an effort to reach a deal by early-May that President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping could sign later that month, two people familiar with the plans said.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The next week Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will come to Washington for negotiations. During his visit, officials want to announce the sides have struck a deal and details of a signing summit, probably set for late May, they said.
On April 4, Trump said it might take four weeks to put together a framework for the deal and two weeks more to get the details on paper. Trump, speaking at an event at the White House on Wednesday, said he thinks the negotiations will be “successful” and that an update would be announced shortly.