China’s top trade negotiator will reportedly sign the ‘phase one’ trade deal in Washington this week

China’s top trade negotiator will reportedly sign the ‘phase one’ trade deal in Washington this week

China's top trade negotiator, Liu He, accepted an invitation to sign the "phase-one" trade deal in Washington next week, the South China Morning Post reported Monday.

The vice premier is expected to stay in the US capital for "a few days" after arriving with a delegation on Saturday, a source told the news outlet.

The two nations have been working on formalizing the preliminary deal since mid-December.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had said on December 13 that the parties were aiming to sign the agreement in the first week of January.

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China's top trade negotiator accepted an invitation to lead a delegation to Washington on Saturday, where he is expected to sign the "phase-one" trade deal, the South China Morning Post reported Monday.

Vice Premier Liu He is expected to stay in the US capital for "a few days," a source briefed on the matter told the South China Morning Post. The deal is the first major agreement between the US and China to de-escalate the trade war, and news of the deal's finalization helped boost US stocks through the end of 2019.

"Washington has sent an invitation and Beijing has accepted it," the source told the Alibaba-owned