The two countries have been working on formalizing the agreement since earlier this month.

Topline: China’s top negotiator, Vice-Premier Liu He, will lead a delegation to Washington this week to sign the much-anticipated phase one trade deal, marking a significant de-escalation of the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, the South China Morning Post first reported on Monday.

• Although neither side has yet to officially confirm the trip this week, “Washington has sent an invitation and Beijing has accepted it,” a source briefed on the matter told the Post.

• Since a phase one deal was signed earlier this month, resulting in a rollback of both existing and scheduled tariffs, the U.S. and China have been working to translate the terms of the agreement and finalize legal reviews.

• Unlike the U.S., China hasn’t yet officially confirmed some of the details of the phase one agreement, which also includes ramping up purchases of U.S. agricultural products.
• President Trump last week described progress being made on formalizing the deal, adding that there will eventually be a whole signing ceremony between himself and Chinese president Xi Jinping.
• U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had said earlier this monththat deputy-level representatives of the two countries would sign a deal in the first week of January.
• The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes were each down by about 0.50% on Monday, in part due to investors repositioning their portfolios for 2020.