China’s top trade negotiator will travel to Washington this week to sign “phase one” of a trade deal with the US — a development that could de-escalate the bitter trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, according to a report Monday.

Beijing has accepted an invitation for the deal signing, and a delegation headed by Vice Premier Liu He arrived in the US on Saturday and will stay until the middle of next week, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a source.

Neither Washington nor Beijing has confirmed the trip.

But US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said earlier this month that negotiators from the two countries have agreed to “phase one” of a trade deal that would nearly double US exports to China over the next two years and would be signed the first week of January.

As part of the interim deal, China would drastically increase its purchases of US agricultural products and both sides would cancel planned new tariffs.

Washington and Beijing have been embroiled in a tit-for-tat tariff war since July 2018, when the Trump administration levied 25 percent duties on $34 billion of Chinese imports after accusing China of unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft.

China retaliated by imposing 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of US goods.

Since then, Washington has slapped tariffs on $550 billion worth of Chinese products and Beijing has set tariffs on $185 billion in US goods.

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