Few details on US-China trade progress; Xi may visit North Korea; More bad economic data

Hi everyone, apologies but I had some tech issues this morning so there is no commentary up top and some of the formatting may look off. All will be back to normal in the next issue

Thanks for reading.

Essential Eight

1. US-China

China, U.S. hold vice-ministerial level talk on economic, trade issues in Beijing - Xinhua: 

China and the United States held a talk at the vice-ministerial level on economic and trade issues in Beijing from Monday to Wednesday, said a statement from the Ministry of Commerce. 

Both sides have actively implemented the significant consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and conducted extensive, in-depth and detailed exchanges on trade and structural issues of common concern, said the statement. 

The talk has enhanced mutual understanding and laid a foundation for addressing each other's concerns, it said. 

Both sides have agreed to continuously keep in close contact.

U.S. and China Make Progress on Trade, but Major Hurdles Remain - WSJ $$: 

During three d…