U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed on the first phase of the trade deal with China, Bloomberg reports citing knowledgeable sources.
“President Donald Trump signed the so-called first phase trade deal with China, preventing the introduction of a new wave of U.S. duties on Asian consumer goods totaling about $160 billion on December 15”, – the agency said.
As The Wall Street Journal reported citing informed sources, the U.S. side proposed to Beijing to halve the existing duties on Chinese export goods totaling about $360 billion per year, as well as to cancel the new round of duties, the entry into force of which is scheduled for December 15.
Trump said on Thursday that Washington and Beijing are approaching the conclusion of a trade agreement.
“We are very close to a big deal with China. They want it, and so do we!”, – Trump wrote in his Twitter account.
The U.S. proposal to reduce current duties on Chinese goods has been made over the past five days as part of ongoing trade negotiations, sources say. According to them, in response, the U.S. requires China to make clear commitments to purchase large volumes of U.S. agricultural products and other goods, as well as obligations to protect the intellectual property rights of U.S. companies and expand access to the financial services market of China.
It is assumed that China’s failure to meet any of its obligations under the first phase of the potential agreement will lead to the increase of duties to previous levels, sources say.
U.S. and Chinese negotiating teams have held several rounds of trade talks since October, and both sides have repeatedly confirmed.