A deal to end the months-long trade war between the U.S. and China could be reached by the end of April, White House Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow, said on Sunday.

Kudlow said he thought the U.S. made “great headway’’ in negotiations with the Chinese delegation that visited Washington recently and that he felt “optimistic” about the possibility of the two countries signing a deal in March or April.

Washington and Beijing’s teams have communicated daily since the visit by China’s trade team, he added.

In December 2018, the two governments agreed on a deadline of March 1 to reach an agreement, with the U.S. threatening to hike up tariffs in a no-deal scenario.

But Trump announced after the deadline expired that he was not planning any new tariffs as long as talks were still ongoing and making progress.

Kudlow’s positive outlook echoed comments by China Deputy Trade Negotiator, Wang Shouwen, on Saturday, who said the talks have made “substantial progress” over three rounds since December.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump have instructed their trade teams to move in the direction of lifting all additional tariffs imposed on each other’s goods, Shouwen said.

The U.S. has so far slapped tariffs on 250 billion dollars’ worth of Chinese imports, and China has retaliated with duties on 110 billion dollars’ worth of U.S. goods.

The tariffs have slowed China’s economy, which grew 6.6 per cent in 2018, its slowest rate in almost three decades. (dpa/NAN)