US, China sign historic phase one trade deal
'It doesn't get any bigger than this'
Published 1 hour ago
By Jonathan Garber FOXBusiness
President Trump signed a landmark trade agreement with China, heralding a period of detente in a trade war between the world's two largest economies fueled by decades of complaints that Beijing was manipulating its currency and stealing trade secrets from American firms.
The pact, detailed in a 94-page document, is only the initial phase of a broader deal that Trump has said may come in as many as three sections.
"Together, we are writing the wrongs of the past," Trump said in a pomp-filled signing ceremony. "It doesn't get any bigger than this."
WHY 'PHASE ONE' CHINA TRADE DEAL DOESN'T NEED CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL, UNLIKE USMCA
The agreement will help grow the U.S. economy in 2020 and 2021 by “at least a half a point of additional GDP” and “probably translate into another million jobs on top of what we’ve already done,” Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told FOX News' "America's Newsroom" on Wednesday.
During two years of negotiation, there were occasional setbacks because "on some issues, we don't see eye to eye," noted Liu He, the Chinese vice premier who represented President Xi Jinping at the signing, but "our economic teams didn't give up."
The agreement, which was first reported on Dec. 12, includes commitments from Beijing to halt intellectual property theft, refrain from currency manipulation, cooperate in financial services and purchase more than $200 billion of U.S. products over the next two years.
STOCKS CELEBRATE PHASE ONE TRADE DEAL WITH RECORD HIGHS
The purchases will include up to $50 billion of U.S. agriculture, according to Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, $40 billion of which has been confirmed by Chinese sources. China will also buy $40 billion in services, $50 billion in energy and $75 billion to $80 billion worth of manufacturing, the sources said.
Continued |
