The United States and China signed a phase one trade agreement in Washington on 15 January, bringing a pause to nearly two years of tariff escalation. Under the deal, China agreed to buy an additional $200 billion of American goods and services above 2017 levels over the following two years. Manufactured goods accounted for $77.7 billion of that commitment, a category that expressly included iron and steel alongside aircraft, vehicles and industrial machinery. In return, Washington suspended a planned round of tariffs on Chinese goods, although about $360 billion of earlier duties stayed in place. The agreement also covered intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services and dispute resolution, but it left the main Section 301 tariffs untouched for the time being. For steel traders, the signing removed one source of uncertainty without reopening the US market to Chinese steel. Attention now turns to whether the purchase targets can be met in practice and whether a second phase of talks will address the tariffs that remain.
Source: Flexport — https://www.flexport.com/blog/phase-one-deal-signed-between-us-and-china-now-what/
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