Work on an interim trade deal between the US and China may not be completed in time so that the leaders of the two countries can sign it next month in Chile, but this does not mean failure of the deal, Reuters reported referring to a US administration official. 

US and Chinese negotiators are working to finalize the text of the agreements so that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping can sign them at the APEC summit in Chile on November 16-17.

“If it’s not signed in Chile, that doesn’t mean that it falls apart. It just means that it’s not ready,” the administration official said. “Our goal is to sign it in Chile. But sometimes texts aren’t ready. But good progress is being made and we expect to sign the agreement in Chile.”

White House spokesman Judd Deere said on Tuesday that “both sides were still working to complete the interim deal.”

According to Jude Blanchette, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the phase one deal was restoring the status quo to before the trade war began in 2017, calling into question how much progress had actually been made.

More complex issues, such as China’s industrial policy, subsidies for state-owned enterprises, and forced technology transfer, were postponed for later talks, he said.