Trade deal possible if expectations realistic

Little has been revealed about what each party actually said during their latest conversation. But Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He's phone call with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday has made headlines anyway.

Information available so far suggests the conversation was at least partly about bringing the negotiators back to the negotiating table.

Although tentative, this surely is a constructive initial step toward building on the all-important outcome of the June 29 Osaka meeting between the Chinese and US leaders, which secured a pause in the two countries' trade war. After all, this was the first high-level contact at the operational level since then.