Talks can produce fresh progress toward a deal
Amid a good fall of snow, which Chinese traditionally believe promises a year of harvest and prosperity, Chinese and United States top officials started two days of talks in Beijing on Thursday.
It is encouraging that after the deputy-level meetings on Monday and Tuesday to work out the technical details for an agreement - including a mechanism for enforcing any deal - the face-to-face discussions being conducted between decision-makers from both countries are being held amid a general air of optimism.
The negotiations are being led by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose cordial discussions in Washington on Jan 30 and 31 raised hopes that the two sides are genuinely doing their utmost to reach an agreement ahead of the March 1 deadline when US tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports from China are set to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent.
