Top U.S. and Chinese negotiators met on Thursday for the first time since late July to try to ease a bitter 15-month trade war and business groups expressed optimism that they might be able to find enough common ground to delay a U.S. tariff hike scheduled for next week. Lower-level “early harvest” agreements on issues such as currencies and copyright protections were possible despite increased irritants between the world’s two largest economies, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official briefed by both sides said. Myron Brilliant, the Chamber’s head of international affairs, told reporters that negotiators were “trying to find a path toward the bigger deal” with progress on market access and less controversial intellectual property and other issues. “I believe that there’s even the possibility of a currency agreement this week. I think that could lead to a decision by the U.S. administration to not put […]