Top U.S. and Chinese trade officials are working this week to hash out language on six broad agreements that aim to resolve the most contentious issues in their seven-month trade war.

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China are adding rocket fuel to the liftoff of Southeast Asia's economies. American tariffs on Chinese-made goods have sped the shift of contract manufacturing to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand. The increase in foreign direct investment into the 10-nation regional trading bloc has been underway for a number of years, however, the trade war continues to drive even more capital into the region. Nikkei just published an article this month titled: “Southeast Asia bucks trend of sinking global foreign investment”.

The United States and China have started to outline commitments in principle on the stickiest issues in their trade dispute, marking the most significant progress yet toward ending a seven-month trade war, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

The United States should respect China’s right to develop and become prosperous, the Chinese government’s top diplomat told a visiting U.S. delegation, reiterating that the country’s doors to the outside world would open wider.

The United States and China will resume trade talks this week in Washington with time running short to ease their bruising trade war, but U.S. President Donald Trump repeated on Friday that he may extend a March 1 deadline for a deal and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday trade talks with China were “going along very well” as the world’s two largest economies try to resolve their seven-month tariff war ahead of a March 1 deadline for a deal.

Vietnam is at the top of the list of markets that could benefit from trade diversion coming from US-China trade tensions, building on its increasing competitiveness in manufacturing, according to Pham Hong Hai, CEO of HSBC Vietnam.

The United States and China said their trade war negotiations resulted in major progress as the clock ticks on a March deadline to avert a massive escalation of tariffs that could bruise the global economy.

Tensions between the United States and China are about to get more complicated, with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) poised to begin an investigation into US President Donald Trump's tariffs on US$250 billion (S$338 billion) of Chinese goods.

US-China trade talks will reach a pivotal phase this week when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He comes to Washington for negotiations with his US counterparts, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.