U.S., China Face Thorny Obstacles to Lasting Trade Peace

BUENOS AIRES—The trade truce between the U.S. and China calms their economic battle and opens a brief window for the two nations to explore whether they can bridge deep divides on a range of difficult disputes.

After a weekend dinner between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a Group of 20 summit here, the U.S. postponed its threat to increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to 25% from 10%. But it set a timeline of only about three months for the two sides to negotiate several issues that have proved largely intractable in the past.