The diplomatic cable from Beijing arrived in Washington late on Friday night, with systematic edits to a nearly 150-page draft trade agreement that would blow up months of negotiations between the world’s two largest economies, according to three U.S. government sources and three private sector sources briefed on the talks. The document was riddled with reversals by China that undermined core U.S. demands, the sources told Reuters. In each of the seven chapters of the draft t

Oil prices may rise to $60 a barrel by the end of this year or by early 2018 as OPEC and non-OPEC producers are expected to extend supply cuts beyond March, while oil inventories continue to decline, a former Saudi energy ministry official said in a speech Washington. “With the current arrangement and commitment of major producers, and their willingness to adjust and extend the agreement, I believe as commercial oil stocks continue to contract, oil prices will gradually incre

The agreement gives US farmers access to the world’s biggest rice consumer, with China importing about 5 million tonnes last year. It follows trade talks between the two countries that resulted in little progress on other issues. While China opened its rice market in 2001, a lack of protocols on pests and plant diseases effectively stopped imports taking place. Inspections The organisation representing the US rice industry said the new agreement was the most complex of its ki