the us are trying to meet halfway despite different views on some crucial issuessecuring a trade deal is likely to get harder from here unless outside factors such as an economic downturn force a compromise according to ely ratner a china expert who served in the administration of president barack obama and is now director of studies at the center for a new american security thinktankthe question is can the chinese come back and offer enough such that trump can sell it he said it is going to be hard for them to do that in the face of trump escalating i think it gets harder as this thing goes on and it gets harder politically for trump