On Tuesday, President Trump tweeted that he would sign a phase-one trade deal with China on January 15 in a ceremony at the White House and vowed to later travel to Beijing to begin talks on phase two. The news comes after more than a year of tariffs stemming from concerns about China’s intellectual property theft and trade practices.
As part of the phase-one deal, last month the U.S. canceled new tariffs on $156 billion in Chinese-made imports—including consumer electronics and toys—on List 4(b) planned for implementation on December 15. Items on Lists 1-3 remain at 25 percent while items on List 4(a) were reduced from 15 percent to 7.5 percent. In exchange, China has agreed to purchase more American agricultural products.
While final details of the deal are not yet known, China reportedly will revise regulations in the areas of intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange, and agree to additional purchases of U.S. goods and services. China has also canceled existing tariffs on U.S. corn, automobiles and other products.