The bags celebrate the newfound peace between the US and China. According to rumors confirmed by the White House, the American president Donald Trump Reportedly Signed 'Phase One' Trade Deal Offer of the negotiations. The text was allegedly delivered directly to Beijing by US chief negotiator Robert Lighthzer via the Chinese embassy in Washington. The official announcement of the agreement is expected today, 13 December.
The agreement avoids the entry into force of new tariffs on 160 billion dollars a year of Chinese products, until yesterday scheduled for Sunday 15 December, and establishes a series of conditions that unlock an impasse that has been going on for twenty months now. From the Asian front, for the moment, no confirmation, but only the commitment to reach a trade agreement that is "mutually beneficial". Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying instead focused on the euphoric reaction of the markets. “As soon as the reports on the approach to 'phase one' came out, the major stock markets in the US and Europe jumped. This demonstrates that an agreement through negotiations is of benefit to the two nations and their people, and is also what the international community wants."
The details of the agreement were anticipated to the newspapers by Michael Pillsbury, adviser to the Trump administration in the field of trade relations with China.
The United States, in addition to blocking the entry into force of new tariffs, will eliminate or reduce those already existing on 360 billion dollars of Chinese goods. Beijing, for its part, will commit to buying 2020 billion dollars of agricultural goods in 50 made in the USA, double the current quota. Not only. China will have to strengthen intellectual property protections and open up the financial services market.
It was clear that the climate between the two superpowers had returned to being more serene since yesterday, the day in which President Trump had announced: «We are very close to a big deal with China. They want it, and so do we». The tweet sparked a positive reaction from the markets, with Wall Street updating its records and Asian stocks closing the session at a three-month high. Europe is also up sharply, whose performance is also affected by the result of the UK elections.
After 20 months of trade conflict, the time for peace could therefore have arrived. Recall that in this period the United States has imposed tariffs on China for a total value of 360 billion dollars which include tariffs of 20% on 250 billion of goods and 15% on 110 billion of products.
