A trade deal between the U.S. and China was announced and now it’s time to get it signed.
The two countries struck a deal in early December, although still no public text of details has been released. China officials have also yet to confirm key details, such as increasing U.S. imports by $200 billion over two years.
President Donald Trump tweeted Dec. 31 that Phase One of the trade deal would be signed on Jan. 15.
“The ceremony will take place at the White House,” Trump tweeted. “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!”
Trump previously said Dec. 24 the deal was “done” but was being translated.
“At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!”
The South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper out of Hong Kong, reported Chinese Vice Premier Lui He led the delegation to Washington Jan. 4 to sign the agreement and will be in the U.S. a “few days.”
Limited details
Under the partial trade deal, Washington agreed to cancel some new tariffs and reduce other rates, and China said it would buy more U.S. agricultural products, although no official numbers have been released yet.
White House advisor Peter Navarro said Dec. 31 in a TV interview the deal has “got some great stuff in it” and “It’s got essentially the same chapter we had in the May deal that the Chinese walked away from on intellectual property theft. So that’s a good deal.”
“It’s got essentially the same chapter we had in the May deal that the Chinese walked away from on intellectual property theft.”
In other trade-related news, China has approved two new genetically modified (GM) crops for import that could boost ag purchases from the U.S. Washington has asked China to change its GM crop import application process, saying they want more transparency, quicker turnarounds, and scientifically based, according to a Reuters report.
The two new approved GM crops were Corteva Agriscience’s DAS-81419-2 soybean and 55-1 papaya, developed by the USDA and Hawaii University. In addition to the new crops, China renewed permission for imports of 10 other GM products. All approvals took effect from Dec. 2, 2019 and will last for three years. — WLJ
