U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet with top trade advisers Thursday to discuss planned Dec. 15 tariffs on some US$160 billion in Chinese goods, three sources familiar with the plans said, as markets brace for potential negative impacts.

U.S. officials circulated talking points downplaying the repercussions such a tariff hike would have on the U.S. economy ahead of Trump’s meeting with Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and White House advisers Larry Kudlow and Peter Navarro.

The senior U.S. trade advisers are expected to present divergent views during the meeting, but the final decision will be up to Trump, the sources said.

A decision to move ahead with the December tariffs could roil financial markets and scuttle U.S.-China talks to end the 17-month-long trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies for the remainder of Trump’s term.

Negotiations have failed to produce deals on agricultural purchases by China and tariff rollbacks by the United States since the two countries agreed in October to conclude a preliminary trade agreement.

Many had expected the two sides to reach a deal ahead of the Dec. 15 tariffs, but that prospect now appeared unlikely, according to multiple U.S. and Chinese sources. The question now is whether Washington will delay the tariffs or let them take effect.

Emails had been circulated among a small group of senior U.S. officials in recent days, arguing that previous tariffs had had a muted impact on the U.S. economy, a separate source said.

Navarro, a China hawk, this week circulated a separate memo in favor of continued tariffs.

The Navarro-penned document and separate memos said tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on China over the past year and a half had not been as devastating as critics had argued, a view not shared by many economists.

“The message is that it will not be painful,” said one source familiar with the Trump administration’s thinking. “People have been proclaiming for a year and half that the sky is falling, and the sky isn’t falling yet.”

Trump’s advisers are divided about whether to proceed with the Dec. 15 tariffs and what impact such a move would have on U.S. financial markets, one source familiar with White House trade deal negotiating procedures said.(SD-Agencies)