An upcoming trade meeting could shape the course of US-China relations

When the United States and China signed the “phase one” trade agreement back in January, it looked as if the Trump administration had finally notched a concrete foreign policy achievement into its belt.

President Trump, a man who has condemned Chinese trade practices for decades and based much of his 2016 campaign on fixing the trade deficit with the Asian superpower, spent the day congratulating himself for a job well done. “Today, we take a momentous step, one that has never been taken before with China toward a future of fair and reciprocal trade with China,” he said at a White House ceremony. “Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past.”