US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on July 19, 2017, reportedly dispensed with any pretense that the first meeting of the new U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue had yielded anything close to a breakthrough. A short 5-paragraph joint statement thanked Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang, his team and other U.S. officials for participating and another paragraph pointed to gains that resulted from the 100-day trade dialogue that President Donald Trump had been so high on after he and Chinese President Xi Jinping brokered the arrangement during their first face-to-face meeting, at Mar-a-Lago earlier this April. It did, however, say that “China acknowledged our shared objective to reduce the trade deficit, which both sides will work cooperatively to achieve.” 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang nonetheless said in Beijing that “If you read carefully information and remarks made by China and by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, you will not believe that the U.S. thinks this round is negative." Chinese Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao also told reporters that the two sides had agreed to continue work on a one-year plan as a follow-up to the initial 100-day endeavor. Meanwhile, China has invited first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, to visit this Fall, possibly in preparation for a possible trip by Trump. Meanwhile, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is believed to be putting the finishing touches on recommendations for Trump to restrict steel and aluminum imports to protect national security.