After months of acrimony between the two world leaders over issues of trade, the US and China are all set to hold in-person discussions on trade starting this week. These latest round of talks come months after the previous rounds of negotiations failed in May, which had led to further escalation of the trade war.

US and China called for a truce in their trade dispute during the G20 summit in late June, and since then, talks have been ongoing between both sides via telephonic calls. Expectations for this latest round of talks remain low, but markets are hoping for some development on the import of US agricultural products by China and resumption of supply to Huawei by American companies to feature prominently on the agenda.

So far since the truce, China has signaled that it would permit Chinese companies to import some US-based farm goods without tariffs. Meanwhile, the US government has allowed American tech companies to apply for licenses to sell components to Huawei so long as it does not threaten its national security.

However, with no concrete progress so far, there is not much optimism in the markets that US and China will finalize a trade deal anytime soon. This upcoming meeting will most likely only serve as a goodwill gesture in an attempt to return to the progress made until May. Talks between US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are scheduled to start on Tuesday.