CNBC reported that China replaced its top international negotiator as talks with the US stalled. The new appointment makes Li Chenggang, a key member of China’s trade negotiation team.
This could be a move to try to de-escalate things. We just got a report from Bloomberg this morning saying that China is open for talks with the US if Trump shows respect and names a point person. The US Press Secretary Leavitt yesterday reiterated that the ball is in China’s court.
These moves could be something or could be nothing, but looking at the markets, it continues to feel like we are past the “peak escalation” point and everyone’s waiting for positive developments. Of course, we cannot discard the possibility of things breaking down followed by another wave of risk-off flows, but the upside seems to be more probable than the downside
