PRESIDENT Donald Trump has signed "phase one" of a modest trade agreement with China today.
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping's deputy, Liu He, signed a deal at the White House today that will ease some sanctions on China.
The president described the initial agreement as "righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families."
"Phase one" is being described as part of a larger negotiation focusing on tensions between the U.S. and China and its trade relationship.
Xi said in a letter to Trump that the first phase was “good for China, the U.S. and for the whole world.”
The agreement will ease some sanctions on China and is expected to boost exports from U.S. farmers and manufacturers and ease trade tensions between the two countries going November's presidential election.
For Trump, the White House ceremony today gives him the opportunity to cite progress on a top economic priority on the same day that the House votes to send articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial.
The initial trade agreement is a key step toward de-escalating an 18-month long trade conflict between the world’s largest economies.
Both nations will have to deal with some of the more contentious trade issues as they move ahead with negotiations.
"Phase one" of the pact does little to enforce China to make major economic reforms that the Trump administration sought when it started the trade war in July 2018 by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports.
Larry Kudlow, Trump’s chief economic adviser, says the agreement vindicated the president’s strategy of using tariffs in trade negotiations, though not in every instance.
“I think with China he was exactly right,” Kudlow said. ”I think the tough tariffs hurt their economy and made them much more amenable to a good deal.”
The thornier issues are expected to be taken up in future rounds of negotiations. But it’s unclear when those talks might begin, and few observers expect much progress before the U.S. presidential election in November.
The U.S. has dropped plans to impose tariffs on an additional $160 billion in Chinese imports, and it cut in half, to 7.5 percent, existing tariffs on $110 billion of goods from China.
Beijing agreed to significantly increase its purchases of U.S. products.
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According to the Trump administration, China is to buy $40 billion a year in U.S. farm products, which is an ambitious goal for a country that has never imported more than $26 billion a year in U.S. agricultural products.
Trump cited beef, pork, poulty, seafood, rice and dairy products as examples.
The deal may be most notable for what it doesn't do. It leaves in place tariffs on about $360 billion in Chinese imports — a level of protectionism that would have been unthinkable before Trump took office.
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