The leader of the largest US business lobby group has cast doubt over the prospects of the US and China reaching an interim pact to halt their trade war, after he met Robert Lighthizer, Donald Trump’s chief negotiator in the talks with Beijing. 

Tom Donohue, chief executive of the US Chamber of Commerce, said he had detected a desire for de-escalation both in Washington and Beijing, with “people in both places thinking ‘let’s calm down, let’s start making positive statements’”. But he said he did not see any ironclad, formal truce emerging in the near term. 

“I don’t think there will be an agreement of any type until it’s a matter of substance,” Mr Donohue told reporters at a press conference on Monday. “I don’t think they’ll come home and say ‘well, we have a partial agreement’. They might come home and say ‘well, we’re really pleased that you’ve done this, and we’ve done that, and everybody seems to be looking to move in the right direction’”.