China, U.S. edge towards trade deal

Teams from the U.S. and China are trying to pin down phase 1 of a trade deal.

So said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Wednesday (October 16).

Negotiators are rushing to hammer out a document for their leaders to sign next month.

A partial accord was struck last Friday (October 11) - and with it, new U.S. tariffs were put on pause, for now.

Mnuchin told reporters Beijing hasn't sent an invite for more high-level talks just yet.

But on Thursday (October 17), Beijing officials set out their goal:

(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) COMMERCE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, GAO FENG,SAYING:

"We hope both sides make joint efforts to push the neogotiation to reach a phased agreement and make progress on canceling tariffs."

Officials on both sides say there's still a lot of work to be done in time for a November summit in Chile.

That's where U.S. President Donald Trump and China's leader Xi Jinping are expected to meet, and if all goes as planned...sign phase 1 of the trade deal.

The emerging agreement is the biggest step by the countries in more than a year to end the trade conflict.

It's blamed for slowing global growth and disrupting financial markets.

But there's another major volley of Trump tariffs due to take effect before the end of the year.

And no decision yet from the White House how or whether that will proceed.