On Friday, President Donald Trump announced a massive phase one trade deal between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, which will increase agricultural investment, alleviate intellectual property concerns, and fix technology issues.
President Trump wrote on Twitter, “We have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China. They have agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more. The 25% Tariffs will remain as is, with 7 1/2% put on much of the remainder. The Penalty Tariffs set for December 15th will not be charged because of the fact that we made the deal. We will begin negotiations on the Phase Two Deal immediately, rather than waiting until after the 2020 Election. This is an amazing deal for all. Thank you!”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement that “President Trump has focused on concluding a Phase One agreement that achieves meaningful, fully-enforceable structural changes and begins rebalancing the U.S.-China trade relationship.”
Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, reported on Friday that “China and the United States have agreed on the text of a phase one economic and trade agreement based on the principle of equality and mutual respect.”
All signs point to success in the bilateral trade agreement between the two countries, with China agreeing not to put new sanctions on trade, while the United States will roll back crippling tariffs in phases.
According to the esteemed Business Roundtable trade group, which has members from the largest corporations in the world, including Apple, JP Morgan, Chevron, and others, it “urges both governments to continue progress toward additional structural reforms in China and tariff relief.”
Despite the massive trade deal success, which is objectively the biggest news of the day, CNN chose to focus on impeachment as its key issue, with world trade buried behind left-wing partisan reporting. One article appears on the deal which focuses on the stock market “whipsawing” despite less certainty in the market due to the newly-brokered deal.
