Late last month at a security forum in Washington, DC, Kiron Skinner, Director of Policy Planning for the US Department of State, described today’s US-China conflict as “a fight with a really different civilization and a different ideology, and the United States hasn’t had that before.” As a trial balloon, this apparent attempt to define the Trump administration’s confrontation with China did not fly.

President says U.S. would impose fresh levies on $325 billion in Chinese goods as negotiators move to salvage potential deal.

Trump says it's still possible that the U.S. and China reach a deal this week.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has shown little interest in public diplomacy. And yet public diplomacy – a government’s efforts to communicate directly with other countries’ publics – is one of the key instruments policymakers use to generate soft power, and the current information revolution makes such instruments more important than ever.

Liu He may still travel to the U.S. but shorten his trip or cancel it altogether.

This week’s talks between China and the U.S. are in jeopardy after Beijing hits back on President Trump’s threat to raise tariffs. Sources say that China is considering cancelling trade negotiations that were due to begin in Washington on Wednesday.

"Perhaps it’s even a high-stakes negotiating tactic. But rash actions, and misunderstanding policy, have real-world effects."

President’s warning to China takes Beijing by surprise.

U.S. negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a trade deal after strong resistance from Beijing, according to two sources briefed on discussions, marking a retreat on a core U.S. objective for the trade talks.

Liu He is in Washington for the latest round of trade talks.