China-US grand bargain not on horizon but small deals within reach: analysts

US President Donald Trump might not be able to pull off a “grand bargain” with China but a smaller-scale deal on trade and fentanyl was still possible, experts told a conference in Beijing on Friday.

The assessment came a day after Steve Daines, a US senator viewed as close to Trump, touched down in China on a trip that some reports say could include a meeting with a Chinese leader.

Daines is the first Republican senator to visit Beijing since Trump’s return to the White House in January, and will hold discussions in the Chinese capital on “stopping the flow of fentanyl, protecting American jobs and reciprocal trade”, according to a US embassy social media post.

China’s foreign ministry said Beijing welcomed the visit and had always believed that “maintaining a healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-US relations is in the interests of both sides and the expectations of the international community”.

However, relations between the two countries are far from stable, with the Trump administration ramping up tariffs on imports of Chinese goods in recent weeks and persistent tensions on a range of fronts, from technology to the South China Sea.

  

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