While the Trump administration has been quick to celebrate the recently-signed Phase One trade deal between the US and China, the deal is not progress for Sino-US relations. Instead, the limited agreement simply secures US affirmation of Chinese plans that were already underway.

Trump’s most recent memo to the WTO is the latest in a series of unilateral aggressions by the U.S. Given the relentless combativeness of the Trump Administration in global trade more broadly, the memo targeting WTO norms is unlikely to have any productive results.

What does China stand for on trade and other global issues - a primer for the U.S. negotiating team in trade talks with the Chinese.

Levies would extend to nearly all Chinese imports, potentially affecting American consumers

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned China against waiting out his first term to finalize any trade deal, saying if he wins re-election in the November 2020 U.S. presidential contest, the outcome will be worse for China.

U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods did not hurt Chinese global exports, which have been going strong with the EU and ASEAN. Further tariffs will only hurt the U.S. presence in China and the American economy, which relies on China trade.

With trade negotiations slated to begin in Shanghai next week, the U.S. and China teams appear to be adopting a tone of business- and market-friendliness. Businesses on both sides hope that the teams will leave derailing political chatter on the sidelines.

China’s bottom line remains that the U.S. must scrap all its existing and proposed tariffs. Not only would this measure signal good faith in the upcoming negotiations, but it would also rid the heated relations of their potential to devolve back into another all-out trade war.

Delegations may tackle smaller issues instead of sweeping deal.

Though Osaka provided a signal of some hope for future China-US negotiations, reality indicates that negotiators have several thorny issues to confront before reaching the light at the end of the tunnel: normalized trade relations.