BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has directed federal agencies to evaluate China's performance under the Phase 1 trade deal he signed with Beijing in 2020 during his first term in the White House .
INFORMATION FOR 2020
The agreement had required China to increase purchases of US exports by $200 billion over a two-year period, but Beijing failed to meet its targets when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
As part of the agreement, the United States cut in half the tariff rate it applied in September 2019 on a list of $120 billion of Chinese goods, to 7.5%.
Tariffs first filed in December 2019 on nearly $160 billion worth of Chinese goods, including cell phones, laptops, toys and clothing, have been suspended.
But US tariffs of 25% on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods imposed earlier remained unchanged.
Below are the details of the agreement according to the text of the Level 1 agreement published by the office of the US Trade Representative.
SIX LAWS
China agreed to increase purchases of American products and services by at least $200 billion over two years, over a baseline established in 2017, with increased imports of US goods and services to “continue on this same path for several years after 2021.”
China bought $130 billion in U.S. goods in 2017, before the trade war began, and $56 billion in services, according to U.S. data.
In 2020, China imported $135 billion of US goods, and a year later, they bought $178 billion, according to data from Chinese customs.
INSTALLATION LAWS
The agreement included stronger Chinese legal protection for patents, trademarks, copyrights.
There were commitments by China to follow through on previous commitments to eliminate any pressure on foreign companies to transfer technology to Chinese companies as a condition for market access, licensing or administrative approval and to eliminate any government benefits for such movements.
China also agreed to stop directly supporting outbound investment aimed at acquiring foreign technology to carry out its business plans – transactions already restricted by stronger US security reviews .
ACCOUNT
The currency agreement contains commitments from China to stop the devaluation of competing currencies and to avoid manipulating exchange rates for competitive advantage.
Any violations would be subject to the enforcement mechanism for the entire contract, and could trigger tariffs. Both countries also agreed to publish relevant data on exchange rates and external balances on a prescribed schedule.
