China shows eagerness to deal despite Trump tariff threat, analysts say

By sending Vice Premier Liu He to Washington just 24 hours before President Trump’s threat to raise China tariffs to 25% goes into effect, China is signaling that it wants to get a trade deal finished, trade policy analysts say.

“We’ve never seen this kind of pressure tactic being applied to China, but I would say so far it seems to be working,” said Welles Orr, a former assistant trade representative during the George H.W. Bush administration, now with the law firm Miller and Chevalier. “On Monday, I expected to hear that Liu He was not going to be making the trip. But the fact that he is coming suggests he is coming to make a deal.”