In more positive developments in the US-China trade talks, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross dropped positive hints about the ongoing negotiations and sounded hopeful that a trade deal could be realized soon. Ross made these comments during an interview with Bloomberg TV in Bangkok, Thailand.

Ross also touched on the issue of Huawei in the interview, remarking that the government could soon start issuing licenses to US companies wishing to resume their business with the Chinese tech leader soon. He also confirmed that the government had received requests from around 206 American companies wishing to sell components to Huawei which has been placed on the US Entity List a few months ago.

According to Ross, the US and China could likely sign the interim trade deal between them sometime this month. Initially, expectations were high that the “Phase 1” trade deal would be signed by mid-November at the APEC summit in Chile, but this event has been cancelled, leading to speculation of a possible delay as both sides scramble to finalize alternate locations where the two nations’ leaders could meet to sign the deal.