US and Chinese trade negotiators are scrambling to put a plan together, as they look to ease trade tensions ahead of President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump’s meeting in Osaka next week. Negotiating teams – led by United States trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the US side and Vice-Premier Liu He on the Chinese side – are expected to meet in Osaka as early as Tuesday, three days before the start the G20 leaders’ summit, to prepare for the high-stakes Xi-Trump meeting, according to a source who was briefed on the situation, but who declined to be named. (full story)