Sunday surprise in U.S.-China techno-trade war?

“New tariffs on over $100 billion of Chinese goods are due to take effect on Sunday, but the Trump administration is sending mixed signals on delaying them as the United States and China keep haggling over a trade deal,” says the New York Times (porous paywall).

“The U.S. and China will probably announce some form of trade deal ahead of Sunday — when additional tariffs on Chinese goods are due to kick in — and that’s going to boost financial markets, say analysts,” cited by CNBC.

But can they actually do a deal? “Both sides have said that they are very close, but I can tell you as a trade negotiator that the last mile is always the most difficult,” former acting deputy U.S. trade representative Wendy Cutler told a South China Morning Post conference.

Other news from various fronts of the U.S.-China techno-trade war, day 523:  

“A future U.S. government will have to rebuild relations with China to revive international efforts to combat climate change, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is running for president, said on Tuesday,” reports Reuters.

“The U.S.-China trade war is creating something William Gagnon once thought impossible — a 100% American-made bathroom hand dryer,” reports Reuters in this profile of Gagnon’s family-owned company, Excel Dryer Inc., which “sells about $40 million worth of dryers a year that mostly go into public bathrooms.”