Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 8/20/18

After weeks of U.S.-Mexico bilateral NAFTA negotiations, Canada might be rejoining the talks as soon as this week's end. Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo, who will return to Washington for the fifth consecutive week on Tuesday in hopes of wrapping up one-on-one issues with the U.S. in the coming days.

European officials in Washington today: Also on the busy trade calendar: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's chief trade adviser Léon Delvaux and other senior EU trade officials are traveling to Washington today to meet various
U.S. counterparts and make preparations for bilateral trade talks. The discussions are part of the trans-Atlantic truce that Juncker and Trump reached in late July. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Lighthizer have demanded that agriculture must be part of the trade talks.

Not to be forgotten: China's vice minister of commerce Wang Shouwen is expected to travel to Washington this week to meet with a delegation led by David Malpass, Treasury undersecretary of international affairs. The Wall Street Journal reported that the parties will meet Aug. 22-23.

But many experts don't expect those discussions to end to the trade war. "The key thing is Treasury has no authority here and Malpass has less than no authority, or interest or expertise," said Derek Scissors, a China expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told POLITICO last week. "We are sending someone to this as sort of a token."