The United States has reportedly proposed a fresh round of trade talks with China. <br />For more on this and other news around the world we turn to our Ro Aram…<br />Aram… if the reports are true then it marks a rare olive branch from the Trump administration.<br /><br /> That's right Mark…. The U.S.-China trade spat has been going on for quite some time now, with tit-for-tat tariffs. <br />Previous attempts to reach a trade deal have fallen through. <br /> But the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that senior U.S. officials led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent an invitation to their Chinese counterparts, proposing a meeting in the next few weeks.<br />The report comes just days after President Trump threatened slap additional duties on 200 billion dollars of Chinese imports "very soon."<br />A public comment period for that round of tariffs expired last Thursday.<br />The two countries have already applied tariffs to 50 billion dollars of each other's goods.<br />The treasury and commerce departments are yet to confirm the reports.<br /> Meanwhile, the trade war seems to be weighing on business investment in the U.S. <br />The Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" survey of the economy found that, while businesses were generally optimistic about the near-term outlook, international trade tensions have prompted many American businesses to scale back or postpone planned investments.<br />The survey noted the effects of tariffs appeared to be modest, but they were pushing up input costs for some manufactured goods.<br />The Fed also attributed the fall in investments to a tightening labor shortage in half the country. <br />The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates at its next meeting in two weeks. <br />
