Trade talks; National Day preparations; Party to help private firms by sending in officials

Last week’s trade talks in DC may not have achieved real breakthroughs but they were also not the bust the market on Friday thought they were. I doubt much will happen between now and the National Day celebration, so once again we are left waiting for a Liu He visit in a few weeks. I have not suddenly become an optimist but as I wrote Thursday the chances for an interim trade deal may still be higher than they have been in a while, albeit one that does not solve the hard, underlying structural issues.

The focus now is on the October 1 celebrations. Beijing is on lockdown as it usually is before these types of events, though it sounds like this year it is even more intense. The newsletter may get a bit thinner over the next few days as the news flow becomes even more of a propaganda river. I plan to publish September 30 and October 1 next week but am not yet sure about 10.2 and 10.3, as the country will be on holiday and there may not be much going on.

Those who support a tougher US app…