90-day outcome

Trade experts and observers agree the timeframe will not allow for a comprehensive trade pact between the world’s two biggest economies.

Instead they say they hope to see a deal to roll back the tariffs and continue negotiations on the Chinese policies that have long been irritants to relations with Washington: forced transfer or theft of American technology, restrictive investment rules and industrial subsidies.

“You can’t solve every problem with China in 90 days, but progress could be made institutionalizing” changes to Beijing’s policies, Jake Colvin, vice president of the National Foreign Trade Council, told AFP.

But he cautioned that both sides “need to figure out a path to a win-win outcome. They both need to be able to say they gained something.”

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is leading the negotiating team, which includes Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.

“The basic problem here is that the United States and China don’t trust each other,” Alden told AFP.

“The best hope is a partial deal that addresses some of the US concerns and then the negotiations to continue while the progress is closely monitored.”

Navarro, an anti-China firebrand, last week warned that US negotiators would hold “tough” with China, and said the key would be to “trust but verify.”

But he also cautioned against watching day-to-day reports instead of focusing on March 1, “when we’ll have a complete offer from China.”