Chinese Vice Premier Liu He shakes hands with U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer as he leaves trade talks with Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Washington on Friday. (Leah Millis/Reuters) The failure of the United States and China to reach agreement Friday on a comprehensive trade deal raises the possibility that President Trump’s favorite negotiating tool — high tariffs on imported goods — may be hardening into a permanent feature of the U.S. economy. Two days of talks ended Friday with no sign of the agreement that both governments once had predicted would be achieved by this point. After parting company with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pronounced the latest discussions “constructive” but declined to elaborate. Less than 12 hours earlier, U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods had increased to 25 percent from 10 percent, in a sign of the president’s […]