US-China trade war: is the time ripe for peace to break out? | Larry Elliott

Beijing talks look to have neatly concluded, just in time for Trump to visit Davos and claim victory

Everything is slotting neatly into place for peace to be declared in the trade war between the US and China. The 90-day truce brokered between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G20 summit last month is holding and talks at official level in Beijing this week have gone well.

China's eagerness for a deal was shown when Xi's righthand man on economic issues, Liu He, turned up unexpectedly at the start of this week's talks. Xi is sensitive to the damage Trump could cause to China's slowing economy and wants a rapid agreement.

Even while running for president, Donald Trump waged a war of words against China, promising punitive import tariffs to "bring back" jobs to America.

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