The White House announced Friday evening that the United States and China have agreed to the first step of a massive trade deal that is seemingly beneficial on both sides. The Wall Street Journal reports that the core part of this initial economic "truce" means that the U.S. will "shelve a planned increase in tariffs on goods imported from China, while Beijing said it would increase purchases of U.S. agricultural products."
"We’ve come to a deal on intellectual property, financial services, a tremendous deal for the farmers—a purchase of from $40 to 50 billion worth of agricultural products," President Trump told reporters from the Oval Office.
President @realDonaldTrump after meeting with the Vice Premier of China: "We've come to a very substantial phase one deal.” pic.twitter.com/vM614prtES
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 11, 2019
"We’ve come to a deal on intellectual property, financial services, a tremendous deal for the farmers—a purchase of from $40 to 50 billion worth of agricultural products." pic.twitter.com/Ujx3qGBlFp
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 11, 2019
The U.S. suspended $250 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods as part of "phase one." It should be noted this deal has been years in the making, is only a tiny sliver of what America hopes to accomplish, and still needs to be fine tuned on paper. That process will take several weeks.
The deal with #China is "subject to getting it written," according to @POTUS, which he predicts will take several weeks.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 11, 2019
Says will take 3ish weeks to write. Will conclude around Chile trip in mid November.