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US, China sign historic phase one trade deal

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  vic-eldred  •  4 years ago  •  22 comments

By:   By Jonathan Garber

US, China sign historic phase one trade deal
"Together, we are righting the wrongs of the past," Trump said in a pomp-filled signing ceremony. "It doesn't get any bigger than this."

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



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 righting the wrongs of the past," Trump said in a pomp-filled signing ceremony. "It doesn't get any bigger than this."
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.

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.

Robert-Lighthizer-trade-deal-AP.jpg?ve=1
Trump acknowledges Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Lighthizer says the deal is "fully enforceable"  if Beijing fails to live up to its end of the agreement, and the pact includes mechanisms for handling violations of intellectual property rights. Its dispute-resolution process will allow either side to appeal if it believes the other is "not acting in accordance" with the agreement.

The document specifies that both China and the U.S. "shall ensure fair and equitable market access" for businesses that depend on the safety of trade secrets. Specific measures that will protect pharmaceutical firms' intellectual property, govern patents, block counterfeiting on e-commerce platforms and prevent exports of brand-name knockoffs are detailed.

n return, the U.S. will reduce tariffs on some products made in China, but keep duties the White House has imposed on  $375 billion  worth of merchandise. Following the phase-one signing, $250 billion of Chinese imports will still be subject to a 25 percent tariff and $125 billion of Chinese goods will be under a 7.5 percent levy.

"These tariffs will stay in place until there is a phase two," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told FOX Business' Lou Dobbs. "If the president gets a phase two quickly, he'll consider releasing tariffs as part of phase two. If not, there won't be any tariff relief. It has nothing to do with the election or anything else. There's no secret agreement."


Trump says  phase two negotiations will begin “immediately,” though he pointed out Wednesday that China is "doing many more things in phase one than anyone thought possible."


Article is LOCKED by author/seeder
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Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Vic Eldred    4 years ago

The text of the agreement is due to be released any time now. This was another of Trump's top priorities.

 
 
 
Tacos!
Professor Guide
1.1  Tacos!  replied to  Vic Eldred @1    4 years ago
This was another of Trump's top priorities.

I feel like it was the top priority for Trump. He has been complaining about China for years. I think if there was one single issue driving him to run for office, it was this one.

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
2  Greg Jones    4 years ago

Perhaps China has learned that it is to their advantage to work toward a win-win solution for both nations.

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
2.1  seeder  Vic Eldred  replied to  Greg Jones @2    4 years ago

Tariffs will do that!

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
2.2  Thrawn 31  replied to  Greg Jones @2    4 years ago

I doubt it. There is only so much you can do to governments that kinda hate their own people. 

 
 
 
XXJefferson51
Senior Guide
2.2.1  XXJefferson51  replied to  Thrawn 31 @2.2    4 years ago

The government that hated its own people left the White House on Jan 20, 2017.

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
2.2.2  Thrawn 31  replied to  XXJefferson51 @2.2.1    4 years ago

And was replaced by one in 2017, never above 50% at any point, even with a soaring economy. Most pathetic presidency ever. The economy is the presidential viagra, and even with that Trump struggles to get it up. But hey, the porn stars gave you a warning. I 

 
 
 
Sparty On
Professor Principal
2.2.3  Sparty On  replied to  Thrawn 31 @2.2.2    4 years ago
Most pathetic presidency ever.

Clearly your knowledge of previous Presidents performance is sophomoric at best.   Butthurt and TDS are not metrics used by normal historians to measure Presidential performance.

Sorry!

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
3  Ender    4 years ago

One thing I might have to bite my tongue and give the idiot some credit for.

The devil is in the details I guess as I don't see how they can guarantee enforcement.

I don't ever see them stopping the knockoffs either. Hell half the stuff on Amazon is knockoff crap.

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
4  Thrawn 31    4 years ago

A deal so historic, that it hasn't even been released yet! That is how fucking awesome it is!

Let's see what is in it first. Then we can decide if it is beneficial, the status quo, or a Standard Trump Deal.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
5  Split Personality    4 years ago
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.

2017 exports were 24 billion, 19 billion of which was soybeans of which the USA contributed 52% of all Chinese soybean imports.

It will be interesting to see if soybeans rebound and where ( or if )  the USA can double agriculture exports by 50%.

China will also buy $40 billion in services,

Why only 40?  2017 was $52 billion in exported services.  Why negotiate a lower number?

$50 billion in energy and

Well, with China the sky is the limit supposedly but $50 billion? Crude & Natural gas exports were only $5 billion in 2017. We have the ships to ship coal and oil to China but LNG not so much. 3 LNG plants started during the last administration are coming on line which should boost the numbers but there are only 4 of them in the US,  10 times current production is just a pipe dream.  Nowhere to go but up, right?

$75 billion to $80 billion worth of manufacturing, the sources said.

Well the sources ( Steve Mnuchin ) should be taken skeptically, while 78 - 80 is a fuzzy number, 2018 was one of the highest on record at 9.3 billion versus $539 Billion in imports.  Seems like a better idea to go back to Make in America, Buy American.

But kudos to the Administration for creating a crisis with China and now creating a "Trade Deal, Part 1".

Something is better than nothing.

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
5.1  Ronin2  replied to  Split Personality @5    4 years ago
But kudos to the Administration for creating a crisis with China

So Trump was the reason that China was taking advantage of us for all of these years? Who knew? This has to be a relief to all of the past presidents, they can just blame Trump.

Also, you are assuming that that all of the numbers listed are immediate purchases and will continue yearly. More likely is they are totals that will increase the US percentages over the years.

This is just phase 1. It is still better than any other president has done. 

But Trruuummmmppppp!!!!!! We get it.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
5.1.1  Split Personality  replied to  Ronin2 @5.1    4 years ago

From 2006 to 2017 every year was a record for exports to China until the tariffs kicked in,

Now we have to regain lost ground.

Is China taking advantage of us?  We begged them for cheaper goods, just go to a clothing store or Lowes, Home Depot et al.

I believe what we have is the results of textbook capitalism.

How are we going to increase manufactured goods to the largest,

cheapest manufacturing company/country in the world?

Exports to china were 127 billion in 2017 with 538 in imports.

That increased to 179  and 557  in 2018 in spite of the tariffs imposed in August 2018 for a record deficit of 419 billion with China.

Want to fix the issue?

Buy Made in America only.  I was going to say buy a single Porter Cable saw instead of a 3 piece Ryobi kit with batteries but PC apparently is now made in China. jrSmiley_5_smiley_image.png

In looking around at the prices and models available, there doesn't appear to be a circular saw available in 2020 USA that wasn't manufactured in China, except foreign owned Milwaukee and DeWalt (post 2013, assembled in the USA with "global materials")

Most people walking through Home depot at Christmas had to negotiate pallets of Ryobi green tools, accessories and batteries

in various 3 in one packages in the main aisle. I will only buy American if possible but I have received Worx and Ryobi as gifts from family.  They bought what they could afford.

That's no President's fault, that's capitalism. 

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
5.1.2  Split Personality  replied to  Ronin2 @5.1    4 years ago
So Trump was the reason that China was taking advantage of us for all of these years? Who knew? This has to be a relief to all of the past presidents, they can just blame Trump.

Trump?  No, place the blame on the last recession and US consumers.  It was only a natural reaction to buy the cheapest products in a recession, ie., made in China.

Also, you are assuming that that all of the numbers listed are immediate purchases and will continue yearly. More likely is they are totals that will increase the US percentages over the years.

I think everyone is assuming at lot.

This is just phase 1. It is still better than any other president has done. 

Another assumption...

But Trruuummmmppppp!!!!!! We get it.

No, I don't think "we" do.jrSmiley_99_smiley_image.jpg

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
5.1.3  Thrawn 31  replied to  Ronin2 @5.1    4 years ago
This is just phase 1. It is still better than any other president has done. 

What exactly was done? I mean, things are more expensive for me, but what exactly did we get other than China will buy more beans from mega farms? Really, what makes this "deal" good for the country as a whole? 

Another issue I see is, assuming China can even find the money to hit these "promises", can we actually deliver on our end? Do we actually have the capacity to meet these prospective purchases? 

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
5.1.6  Split Personality  replied to  XDm9mm @5.1.5    4 years ago
Really SP?  The mega growth and sales to America only started due to the last recession?

No, it started in 1976 but became a runaway train during the Bush Administration mostly due to cheap computers and phones.

2009 looked like a correction due to the recession but consumers went back to recent habits almost immediately and have not slowed down.

I must admit that Americans are their own worst enemies.

100% in agreement with the whole paragraph.

512

2018 & 2019 were each higher than 2006

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
6  seeder  Vic Eldred    4 years ago

From Bloomberg, which it's founder has dedicated to only taking critical looks at all things Trump:

Here’s what we do and don’t know:

Tariffs

As part of the deal, the U.S. will halve its 15% tariff on about   $120 billion   in Chinese goods. It will also suspend indefinitely planned duties that were set to take effect on Sunday that would have covered consumer favorites such as   smart phone s and laptops. That leaves roughly   $250 billion   taxed at 25% and   $120 billion   that will be subject to a 7.5% duty once the agreement takes effect. Any further tariff reductions by the U.S. will be linked to the conclusion of future phases, Lighthizer said.

China, on the other hand, didn’t agree to specific tariff reductions in the deal. Instead, the nation’s obligation is to make the purchases and to have an exclusion process for its tariffs. The country has in recent months lowered some retaliatory tariffs including some on cars imported from the U.S.

Purchases

A USTR fact sheet refers to this part of the deal as the Expanding Trade chapter. According to the U.S., China has agreed to increase its total purchases of U.S. goods and services by at least   $200 billion   over the next two years. Also included is a commitment by China to increase its buying of U.S. agricultural products to   $40 billion   to 50 billion in each of the next two years. Lighthizer told reporters “these are numbers that are realistic and that we arrived at together.” The specific breakdown of targets for individual commodities will be classified and not disclosed to the public.

IP, Forced Tech Transfer

The deal will center around what a senior administration official called “state-of-the-art” IP commitments and a breakthrough on forced technology transfer. Those issues are also at the heart of an investigation that led President Donald Trump to raise tariffs on China in the first place.

Among the specific commitments USTR announced Friday: China has agreed to end its long-standing practice of forcing or pressuring foreign companies to transfer their technology to Chinese companies as a condition for obtaining market access, administrative approvals, or receiving advantages from the government. China also commits to provide transparency, fairness, and due process in administrative proceedings and to have technology transfer and licensing take place on market terms.

Enforcement

The agreement will include a dispute-resolution mechanism that will serve as the enforcement arm. That process is in line with how other U.S. trade agreements are enforced. Complaints of one party will be brought to a U.S.-China working group and if officials can’t resolve their dispute, a decision will be made at the ministerial level of what action to take. That action could include tariffs or other measures, Lighthizer said, though he sounded optimistic that he thinks China will keep their promises. On the CBS show, he said the provision lays out a 90-day enforcement period.

What Comes Next?

Lawyers are now reviewing the text so that it’s ready to be signed in the first week of January. It’s also being translated. Lighthizer and his counterpart Vice Premier Liu He will likely do the signing in Washington. Once it’s inked, the deal will take effect roughly 30 days later.

Phase Two?

The president announced Friday that negotiations for the next phase would start immediately, though his trade chief said no date for future talks had been set. The first phase leaves contentious issues unresolved, including U.S. demands that China curb subsidies to state-owned firms. The U.S. says future talks will also   focus   on digital trade, data localization, cross-border data flows and cyber intrusions.


bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-14/phase-one-china-u-s-trade-deal-what-s-in-and-what-s-missing

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
7  Thrawn 31    4 years ago

So basically the deal is we all still get to pay more in taxes at the store and China has agreed to buy more soy beans and has made some vague to meaningless promises on a number of fronts?

That is one hell of a deal! Give me a fucking break.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
8  It Is ME    4 years ago

In the meantime....Democrats are signing "Impeachment" papers with "Made in China" Pens....and worrying about what different name to call a post office. jrSmiley_103_smiley_image.jpg

They did take credit for Trumps USMCA. All Dems did was "Sign" on with more "Made in China" pens. jrSmiley_99_smiley_image.jpg

The Dems will take credit for China Agreement Phase 1 too ! jrSmiley_97_smiley_image.gif

The Dems have worked so hard on Trumps "Agreements". jrSmiley_91_smiley_image.gif

 
 

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