Here’s my prediction on how China can signal that it is serious about reversing the trade war escalation without appearing to do anything overt that would lose face.
Somewhere buried in the pages of a provincial Chinese newspaper a story appears that describes a major bust of an illegal fentanyl exporter with quotes from the local party official that they will be dealt with severely.
Trump sees this and calls Xi to thank him at which point he offers to delay the 10% tariffs temporarily and personally look deeper into the Huawei technology ban. Xi denies that he had anything to do with the bust (actually not a lie since it would have been ordered by the Party) and portrays this as Trump blinking first to Chinese media before Trump goes public. Xi proposes to send his trade reps to Washington to resume talks now that Trump has come to his senses.
The trade talks will not resume in earnest until the Chinese ask to send a delegation back to Washington. Trump can always activate the 10% tariff at any time since it would be contingent on further trade talk progress.
Yeah, that could be one “save face” option for China...will have to wait & see I guess.