China has come out with its first words of approval for phase one limited trade deal with the United States. President Xi Jinping said the agreement will be beneficial to both China and the U.S.
"The first-phase economic and trade agreement reached between the U.S. and China is a good thing for the U.S., China, and the entire world," said Xi, according to the state-controlled news agency, Xinhua. "Both the U.S. and Chinese markets and the world have responded very positively to this. The U.S. is willing to maintain close communication with China and strive to sign and implement it as soon as possible."
Xi over the weekend confirmed he had talked by phone to president Donald Trump about the phase one trade deal. Xinhua didn't go into what Xi and Trump discussed, neither did it reveal any details of the talks. Last week, both countries said they are agreed on the text of the agreement that includes some tariff relief and agricultural purchases by China.
Last Friday, Trump revealed he had a "very good talk" with Xi. He claimed, but which China hasn't confirmed, that China started "large scale" purchases of U.S. agricultural products. Trump made this claim before back in October but China made no purchases of U.S. agricultural products at the time.
Xi said he'll keep in touch with Trump to "exchange views on bilateral relations and international issues, and jointly advance China-U.S. relations based on coordination, cooperation, and stability," according to Xinhua.
Last Dec. 13, Wang Shouwen, China's vice-commerce minister, said the U.S. had agreed to do away with some of its existing tariffs on Chinese goods set for Dec. 15. On the other hand, Trump bragged both countries had agreed to a "very large Phase One Deal".
Without citing any proof, Trump said China had agreed to "many structural changes and massive purchases" of "Agricultural product, Energy, Manufactured Goods, plus much more". He said the 25% tariffs would remain and the previous 15% tariffs would be halved to 7.5%.
He also confirmed the new round of tariffs planned for Dec. 15 on goods including laptops, toys, and video games wouldn't be implemented "because we made the deal".
Trump said negotiations on a phase two deal will begin "immediately, rather than waiting until after the 2020 election," again without citing any proof.
Initial reports at the time said China had agreed to purchase $50 billion worth of US farm goods while the US offered to cut existing tariffs on Chinese goods by as much as 50%. China has never confirmed it intends to buy such a huge amount of produce from the U.S.
Chinese officials didn't confirm commitments to purchase U.S. agricultural products, only saying China "will buy more high quality of American agricultural products." Relevant details will be disclosed later.
China's muted response on Dec. 13 had raised fears about whether an agreement had been reached. China's minister of foreign affairs, Wang Yi, didn't mention the negotiations as was the case with Chinese state-controlled media.
Trump again claimed China has agreed to buy up to $50 billion worth of soybeans. Trump first made this false claim back in October and repeated it last week. In October, Trump claimed China will buy at least $50 billion worth of soybeans in a partial trade accord.
U.S. agriculture experts said this figure was impossible since the largest annual U.S. soybeans sale to China amounted to $27 billion in 2017, the year before Trump launched his trade war. This amount plunged by 98% in 2018 in 2018, according to Deutsche Bank.
