Final Throes of Phase One US-China Deal

• U.S President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that talks with China on the first phase of a trade deal were near completion after negotiators from both sides spoke by phone, signaling progress on the accord in the works for nearly two years. 
• “We’re in the final throes of a very important deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It’s going very well.”  
• Negotiations have been complicated by strong support in the U.S. for pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong and China’s suspicions that the U.S. is feeding unrest in the territory. 
• Trump gave no indication about whether he would sign legislation Congress passed last week backing the protest movement in Hong Kong.

(Source: Bloomberg)