Trump and members of his cabinet have said they would like to finalize a trade deal with China by the end of this month, but that is definitely not happening.
We know it's not happening because Chinese and American officials have already scheduled more talks that will take us through the middle of May.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing for trade talks beginning on April 30, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, who will lead the Beijing talks for China, will also travel to Washington for more discussions starting on May 8. [...]
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang did not confirm the dates for the next round of talks during a regular news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, but said the two sides were maintaining contact.
Even if Trump agrees to a deal of some description in the relatively-near future, talks have already carried on long enough to bake in a significant amount of economic damage during the current fiscal year.
That is particularly true for the agricultural industry which is currently flying blind because they don't know if what they're planting right now will actually sell for a reasonable price during the harvest season.
If talks are not resolved soon, the White House may loose its sense of urgency because the damage has already been done. And if that is the case, I expect we'll see more talk of passing some sort of agricultural stimulus bill in Congress.