US-China talks; Beijing Daily says America is a "failed state"; Waiting for the end of the Plenum; EU stressed about rare earths and auto chips

“We’ll make a deal on, I think, everything,” Trump told reporters

It is Thursday in Beijing, the last day of the Fourth Plenum. We should have some official details from the meeting by late Thursday, and perhaps get more clarity on personnel changes and some of the crazy rumors going around.

The mixed signals continue ahead of the US-China trade talks in Kuala Lumpur this weekend. Earlier Wednesday, US officials appear to have leaked to Reuters renewed threats of export controls on “critical software”. That story made it seem like the US was once again threatening escalation to de-escalate ahead of the talks.

Then later Wednesday President Trump said he thought the US and China would make a “deal on everything”:

“We’ll make a deal on, I think, everything,” Trump told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office.

“I think we’re going to make a deal on soy beans and the farmers. I think we’re going to make a deal on maybe even nuclear,” he continued. “You know, [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin in his call mentioned to me about nuclear, where we do a de-es…