On Jan. 15, President Trump will sign the “phase one” deal with China at the White House.
“I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15. The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present. At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two,” tweeted President Trump.
All after the U.S. and China reached a partial trade as the two attempts to de-escalate the long-lasting trade war. Per the agreement, President Trump agreed to cancel some new tariffs, while China agreed to buy more U.S. agricultural products.
At the moment, the U.S. has canceled tariffs that were set to take effect this month. However, we have left 25% tariffs of $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, but did cut existing tariffs on $120 billion worth of goods to 7.5%.
“That one’s in the bank, Joe,” said White House advisor Peter Navarro, as quoted by CNBC. “We’re just waiting for the Chinese translation of the 86-page agreement and I’m trying to figure out whether it’s going to be more pages or less in Chinese. Next year, 2020, we’re going to try to get something going with Great Britain, Vietnam, Europe and anybody else who wants to fairly trade with the United States of America.”
What’s Currently in the Phase One Deal
So far, we don’t know much about what’s actually in the deal.
Neither side has provided many details. What we do know is that planned 15% U.S. tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese goods have been taken off the table. China also canceled its retaliatory tariffs, which included a 25% tariff on U.S. autos, as noted by Reuters.
The U.S. also said China has agreed to increase its purchases on products and services by up to $200 billion over the next two years. While making no mentions of hard targets, China said it would import more wheat, rice, corn, energy, and pharmaceuticals.
In addition, there is allegedly a deal for stronger Chinese legal protections for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. “The deal contains commitments by China to follow through on previous pledges to eliminate any pressure for foreign companies to transfer technology to Chinese firms as a condition of market access, licensing or administrative approvals and to eliminate any government advantages for such transfers,” as also noted by Reuters.
