Rumors say China is willing to offer a reduction of its annual trade deficit with the US by US$200 billion. Even if China would be willing to do so, it would almost be “difficult to contemplate.”, says political analyst Victor Shih to Bloomberg.

Despite the fast ups and downs in the relations between the US and China, the fundamental animosity between the world’s largest economies is just not going away, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to the South China Morning Post. Despite Donald Trump’s easing of the fight with ZTE, he does not expect a huge change in the tensions.

European companies are running behind in defining a good strategy in catching up with China, writes Mark Greeven, professor at the Zhejiang University,  in the LSE Business Review. “The reality is that Chinese companies have no choice but to innovate and upgrade in global value chains.”

China’s massive One-Belt, One-Road program has often been compared with the US Marshal plan after the Second World War. Keen to reap the benefits, risks have also been highlighted, writes financial analyst Sara Hsu at Capital Watch. US investors like Marc Merlino, head of Citi’s global subsidiaries group started to explore the field, she writes.

Many successful Chinese companies listed in the US, rather than in China, because of the stringent regulations in their own country. Now going IPO in China is at least becoming easier, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order to Harbour Times. And some Chinese companies might come back from the US.

China’s deep Confucian roots do influence the way the internet has developed, says marketing veteran Tom Doctoroff, author of What Chinese Want: Culture, Communism, and China’s Modern Consumer, to the South Morning Post. “I call it pride commerce, where there is the idea that you are what you buy … and that sharing your interests is a way to make your identity stronger,” Doctoroff said.

The trade dispute between the US and China is moving from commodities to tech, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® to the South China Morning Post. Getting a deal will be tough, says Kroeber: “The problem from China’s perspective is: can you trust the US to stick to any deal you cut with them?”

Social connectivity has become crucial for life and business in China. “If you want to do well as an internet company today, you need to be strong on the social aspect, otherwise you won’t be able to gain any traction,” tells business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, to the South China Morning Post.

For a long time, working around the clock – from 9 to 9, six days a week known as the 996-rule – was common in China’s startup working culture. But those times are changing, says SOSV managing director William Bao Bean, a leading voice in China’s startup scene to the BBC. “China has moved from a society that was told what to do, to one that is doing what it wants to, and that’s also a millennial thing,” he says.

The devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake is still sending tremors into China’s society, writes journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, in the NY Review of Books.”China’s supreme rulers today also have a strong hold over their citizens, but their edifice might not be immune from seismic change in society.”