A report on South China Morning Post indicates that trade delegates from China are all set to travel to Washington on January 13 to sign the phase one trade deal. The signing ceremony is slated to take place on January 15, after which US President Donald Trump is expected to travel to Beijing for beginning the second please of trade negotiations.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will be leading this delegation, but official confirmation from either governments is still awaited. There was speculation that the deal would be signed in the first week of January, but Trump confirmed the date just before the end of 2019.

Markets are buoyed by hopes that the partial trade deal would serve to dissipate escalation in trade tensions that have plagued global financial markets for around 18 months, impacting economic growth not just in China and the US, but also other leading nations worldwide. The US and China had announced the finalizing of the phase one deal in mid of last month, offering much relief to markets.