Trump is supposedly going to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the relatively near future to sign a piece of paper and Trump has even referred to their upcoming meeting as a "signing summit," but it increasingly looks like they may not have anything to sign.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to reporters this morning who asked him if Trump is willing to walk away from negotiations and Pompeo said "yes."
From Reuters:
“Things are in a good place, but it’s got to be right,” Pompeo told Sinclair Broadcasting Group, according to a transcript released by the State Department on Tuesday.
Asked if Trump would walk away from any deal that was not perfect, Pompeo said, “Yes” and pointed to the Republican president’s rejection of an agreement with North Korea at a summit last week in Hanoi.
Trump last week said that he was willing to abandon trade talks with China, but U.S. advisers in recent days have signaled more positive outcomes.
What do Trump's meetings with Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping have in common?
In both cases, they're flying by the seat of their pants and heading into high leveling meetings without a clear goal or clear proposals.
To say that things are "in a good place" does not actually tell us anything substantive and we still haven't heard specific details about what, if anything, Chinese and American negotiators have agreed to during recent talks.
Given that Pompeo is already floating the idea of talks continuing after Trump's upcoming meeting with Xi Jinping, I expect it will be largely symbolic if the two of them sign a piece of paper.