U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators hold constructive phone talks after Presidents Trump and Xi exchange reconciliatory gestures at the G20 summit in Japan. Both presidents agree to an interim trade truce with 25% tariffs on $200+ billion Chinese imports (but no further tariffs on the other $325 billion Chinese goods). U.S. trade envoy Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reconnect with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and Commerce Minister Zhong Shan in their current effort to resolve relentless Sino-American trade disputes.

Both sides agree to resume constructive discussions to ease fears of further trade war escalation after an awkward hiatus in mid-2019. Bilateral trade talks continue even though the Trump team accuses Chinese trade technocrats of reneging on their prior commitments to a major landmark deal. U.S. trade reps emphasize the essential need for China to institute legal changes in the current unique system of state capitalism, whereas, Chinese trade reps refrain from engaging in prohibitively costly U.S. agribusiness export procurement and intellectual property protection and enforcement under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act 1974. At any rate, both trade teams attempt to reframe the current bilateral trade conflict before it becomes an unnecessary tech cold war.