The US-China trade deal is “remarkable” in scope, but it would not solve all the problems between the world’s two biggest economies, the top US negotiator said on Sunday.
“This is not just about agriculture and other purchases,” US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation.
“The way to think about this deal, is this is a first step in trying to integrate two very different systems to the benefit of both of us,” he said.
The so-called “phase one” agreement announced Friday includes elements dealing with intellectual property protections, technology, currency and financial services.
Above all, Lighthizer said: “It’s enforceable.”
He said the US$50 billion in additional purchases of US agricultural products by China is spelled out in writing in the agreement.
Though the agreement is still being translated and has yet to be signed, Lighthizer said: “This is totally done.”
He would not give a precise date for the signing, but said he expected it to happen in early next month.
China committed to a minimum of US$200 billion in increased purchases over the next two years from US manufacturers, farmers, energy producers and providers of services, Lighthizer said.
US exports to China would double in the next year, and nearly triple the year after if the agreement is in place.
In 2017, before the US-China trade dispute was unleashed, the US exported about US$120 billion in goods to the Asian giant.
“Over the course of the last year, what this president [US President Donald Trump] has accomplished in this area is remarkable,” Lighthizer said, referring also to the just-concluded US-Mexico-Canada trade deal and others.
“Any one of these deals would have been monstrous. And the fact that we have all of them together is great for agriculture,” he said.
However, the deal has met with a mixed reaction from trade experts, in part because some details have yet to be released.
China expert Scott Kennedy said that the costs of the trade dispute “have been substantial and far reaching, [and] the benefits narrow and ephemeral.”
Trade economist Mary Lovely said the gains in the deal do not fully compensate for the damage to US farmers and businesses.
However, Lighthizer said negotiators never envisioned solving all trade issues at one go, and coming negotiations with China would be informed by the implementation of the phase one agreement.
“It really is a remarkable agreement, but it’s not going to solve all the problems,” he said.
The deal enables the two sides to declare a truce in a trade dispute that has roiled the global economy for the past 18 months.
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