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.

President Trump and President Jinping’s Osaka meeting marks a chance to reboot China-US relations. The two leaders would be wise to capitalize on new and promising opportunities for cooperation over competition.

The open letter signed by US experts and scholars gives a voice to some of the cooler heads in China-US relations. But closer reading indicates that a serious and powerful challenge to Trump’s fundamental China strategy is still lacking in the US.

Though their G20 Osaka summit meeting made headlines for its positive signals, President Xi and President Trump still must address three key areas for policy coordination: mitigating the global impact of financial innovation, balancing their scientific and technological cooperation with their respective national security concerns, and addressing the trend towards weaponizing trade and international finance.

Many observers believe the US has already begun a new cold war via comprehensive containment of China. But in recent decades, US elites have debated back and forth on the positive or negative implications of Chinese power. Today’s tensions are serious, but not unprecedented.

The US-China trade truce is welcome news, but far from a resolution. To overcome the various uncertainties and structural challenges within the US-China relationship, we should turn this truce to a longer-term effort to restore trust, normal economic relations, and a strengthening of multilateralism.

The stark present of Sino-US distrust is a far cry from the nostalgic past of China-US cooperation since the Nixon era. Nonetheless, China’s deepening domestic reforms and revised strategic outlook bode well for the future — but will the US get the message?

Amid trade war and perceived China-US disagreement, silver linings are often ignored. But outside of Washington and Beijing, Sino-US cooperation is thriving at the local and private level, while China’s commitment to reform provides a stable foundation for the bilateral relationship.