US President Donald Trump said he was “getting very close to a deal” with China to extend the trade truce that saw the two countries agree to reduce tit-for-tat tariff hikes and ease export restrictions on rare earth magnets and certain technologies.

Trump’s respect for China puts it in a category of one. Zbigniew Brzezinski once accused his fellow grand strategist Henry Kissinger of “an obvious fascination with enemies and an ennui with friends”.