President Donald Trump put a date on signing the Phase One trade deal with China, thanks to Twitter.
He’ll sign the deal with China on January 15, making the agreement between the two largest economies official. The highlight of the deal that’s most interesting to agriculture is China will increase its purchases of U.S. agricultural products in exchange for the U.S. lowering tariffs on some of its imports.
“The ceremony will take place at the White House,” Trump says on Twitter. “High-level representatives of China will be present.”
In addition to the ag purchases, China agreed to new commitments on intellectual property protections, forced technology transfers from U.S. companies, as well as new currency practices.
Bloomberg says the deal will calm some of the fears that the trade war between the nations would continue long term.
The president also says he’ll be traveling to Beijing at a later date to begin Phase Two negotiations. The precise details of the agreement haven’t been released to the public yet.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says the details will come out when it’s officially signed by both countries.
