Cautious optimism that Washington may be more reasonable in trade talks

While there is a general feeling that a solution to the long-running trade dispute between China and the United States might be on the cards after both sides made conciliatory gestures ahead of the upcoming high-level negotiations due to begin in Washington on Thursday, it would be rash to consider that a certainty.

Despite the evident desire of both sides to extract something tangible from their talks, and US President Donald Trump's claim on Monday that he would much prefer a big deal "I think that's what we're shooting for", any progress made is likely to be hard-won and on a much smaller scale.

Any consensus reached will likely be on specific issues such as China's purchases of US agricultural products rather than the fundamental changes in China's economic model which the US has been hitherto unrealistically demanding.