Spirit of accommodation key to trade agreement

The repercussions from the trade frictions between the United States and China are already giving investors the heebie-jeebies and causing widespread consternation. And with the clock ticking down the days to the March 1 deadline set by the US for raising its tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent - which would trigger a full on trade war - if no agreement is reached, the prospects of even worse to come has led to the worldwide air of gloom and doom growing correspondingly.

So, not surprisingly, when US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday that Beijing and Washington would be able to reach a trade deal that "we can live with", it raised hopes that the two days of closed-door negotiations that were due to conclude in Beijing on Tuesday would be able to produce concrete progress toward the two sides resolving their trade dispute. Especially, with both sides saying they were going to engage in the talks in good faith.

That air of optimism was boosted by the visit of Kim Jong-un, the leader of Democratic People's Republic of Korea to Beijing, with speculation that it was somehow tied to trade talks.