Trump says US-China 'Phase 1' trade deal to be signed January 15

US President Donald Trump says a partial trade deal with China would be signed on January 15 in Washington, and that he would later travel to Beijing to begin talks on the next phase, though considerable confusion remains about the details of the agreement.

Trump wrote Tuesday in a tweet that he and senior officials from China would sign the Phase 1 trade deal in the middle of next month at the White House.

"I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15," Trump tweeted moments before Wall Street was due to open.

"The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present," he added.

Last week, Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would host a signing ceremony to ink the Phase 1 deal.

The Phase 1 deal, struck earlier this month, is expected to reduce tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of American farm, energy and manufactured goods while addressing some disputes over intellectual property.

The Phase 1 deal, reached earlier this month, is expected to reduce tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of American exports while addressing China’s alleged theft of intellectual property.

However, the agreement has not yet been made public, and Chinese officials have yet to publicly commit to key US demands, such as increasing imports of American goods and services by $200 billion over two years.

US data show that China bought $130 billion in US goods in 2017, before the trade war began, and $56 billion in services.

The Trump administration launched a trade war against Beijing a year and half ago over allegations of unfair trade practices, such as theft of US intellectual property and subsidies that unfairly benefit Chinese state-owned companies.

The Office of the US Trade Representative said the Phase 1 deal includes stronger Chinese legal protections for trademarks, copyrights and patents. Issues such as industrial subsidies would be addressed in a later deal, US authorities said.

The escalating tit-for-tat tariffs, which began in July, 2018, have roiled markets and crimped economic growth worldwide.

For many US policymakers, an economic slowdown has been a price worth paying to try to force changes in China’s economic policies and counter the country’s rapid economic rise.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has warned the US-China trade war could lead to a global military conflict if the two countries fail to resolve their commercial dispute.

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