Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign released a detailed trade agenda that talked about how he would undo some of what he called President Donald Trump's "disastrous trade war," and how he would advance trade liberalization, if he were elected.

A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson denied knowledge for a second straight day of China's top trade negotiators phoning their U.S. counterparts over the weekend urging the resumption of talks toward a comprehensive trade deal, as President Donald Trump claimed they had on the sidelines of the G-7 summit. “I'm not aware of the two phone calls over the weekend that the U.S. side talked about,” the spokesperson said Aug. 27. “The two sides have held 12 rounds of high-level consultations and the two teams have remained in contact,” he said. “Regrettably, however, the U.S. recently decided to add new tariffs on Chinese goods as a measure to impose maximum pressure, which is not constructive at all as it serves no one's interests.” China hopes the U.S. “will remain calm, return to reason, and immediately stop its wrong approach.” The spokesman declined to answer a reporter's question about when the next round of negotiations will take place. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t comment.

Derek Scissors, a China scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has been arguing for decoupling from China for years. He says whether President Donald Trump wins a second term, or a Democrat replaces him, it's likely tech companies will have to change their supply chains and reverse the international approach to research and development. Scissors said in an interview that while apparel and other low-value goods manufacturers were already moving to cheaper countries in Asia, consumer technology firms were happy in China before the trade war began. "You could easily get a Democratic administration that wants to get tech out of China," he said. "Biden's people say they want that."

France's President Emmanuel Macron, speaking at a press conference at the G-7 meeting Aug. 26, said that the U.S. and France have agreed they will work together to reach an agreement in 2020 on modernizing the international tax rules. Macron, who was speaking in French, said that the 3 percent digital services tax is not designed to punish any large companies. Rather, he said, "it's to fix the problem. And there are also plenty of French companies that will be touched by this tax."

President Donald Trump said Germany is a great trading partner, according to press reports from the G-7 summit in France. When asked if he is considering tariffs on German cars, as has been threatened under Section 232, Trump replied, "I hope not. We’re going to come to some new conclusions." He said the Europeans were negotiating in earnest. At a press conference, Trump also suggested Japan is unlikely to face auto tariffs on national security grounds. "It's something I could do at a later date, but we're not looking at that," he said. "We just want to be treated fairly."

Both the United Kingdom and the United States touted the potential of a free trade agreement after the U.K. leaves the European Union. President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to the press in France after breakfast during the G-7 conference. "We're going to do a very big trade deal -- bigger than we've ever had with the U.K.," Trump said. He said he didn't anticipate any problems in negotiating it and predicted it would happen "pretty quickly."

President Donald Trump said in an Aug. 23 tweet that he is planning an unspecified response to new tariffs that China will impose on U.S. goods. China's tariffs are in relation to the coming Section 301 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, most of which will begin on Sept. 1. “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA,” Trump tweeted. “We don’t need China” and the U.S. “would be far better off without them,” he said. “The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP.”

President Donald Trump tweeted repeatedly about the China trade conflict the night of Aug. 14 and during the day on Aug. 15, explaining his decision to defer some tariffs until Dec. 15 and predicting “we will soon be winning big on Trade.”

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin traveled to Shanghai for July 30 and 31 talks on a comprehensive U.S.-China trade deal, the White House said July 30. Vice Premier Liu He and Commerce Minister Zhong Shan led the Chinese delegation, it said. “The two sides discussed topics such as forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights, services, non-tariff barriers, and agriculture.” The Chinese “confirmed their commitment to increase purchases” of U.S. agricultural exports, it said. “The meetings were constructive, and we expect negotiations on an enforceable trade deal to continue” in Washington in early September, it said. The Shanghai meetings were the 12th round of negotiations that started in December, and were the first face-to-face talks between the sides since the negotiations broke down in May over Trump administration allegations that the Chinese reneged on previously agreed-to commitments. Overhanging the talks is the threat that the administration could put the List 4 Section 301 tariffs into effect at any time on virtually all Chinese goods not previously dutied.

Some candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination emphasized the cost to consumers of tariffs, while others focused on how past trade deals encouraged outsourcing, on July 30 in the first of two consecutive nights of debates. A CNN moderator put Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, on the spot by asking him whether he sides with steelmakers or steel consumers in his decision to continue or end Section 232 tariffs on steel. Ryan, whose hometown of Youngstown was once a steel powerhouse, pivoted to talking about China. But when pressed, he said, "I would have to re-evaluate. I think some of them are effective. But he's bungled the whole thing, obviously."