China said to want 15 Dec tariffs cancelled as minimum pre-condition for continued negotiations

CNBC reporter, Eunice Yoon, tweets as citing Chinese experts who are following the trade talks well

The tweet thread reads:

"Chinese experts who follow #trade talks tell me 1) #China side would want Dec 15 tariffs canceled as minimum pre-condition for continued negotiations of phase one deal (if not, would be sign US not serious). 2) #China "extremely reluctant" to commit to massive concrete figures for US farm goods (if China agrees, it would be considered major concession) 3) still bottom basement level of trust Trump team won't toss out any deal."

I don't think this is much of a surprise but markets are continued to be left hanging as we await Trump's decision on the 15 December tariffs.

If you really want to harp on the semantics here, I'm not sure how the Chinese camp may interpret a delay in the tariffs as opposed to a cancellation. It may very well come down to that at the end of the day so just be mindful.

As for China's reluctance to firmly commit to agricultural purchases, can't say that we didn't see this one coming now, no?

In any case, this continues to suggest that even with a delay in tariffs this week, any "Phase One" deal remains quite a distance away as both sides are still not moving on their respective key red lines.