Investing.com -- China and the U.S. struck their long-awaited “phase-1” trade deal, the first formal steps towards de-escalating a fight that has weighed on the world economy for a year and a half.
"The United States first imposed tariffs on imports from China based on the findings of the Section 301 investigation on China's acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation," the USTR said in a statement.
"The United States will be maintaining 25 percent tariffs on approximately $250 billion of Chinese imports, along with 7.5 percent tariffs on approximately $120 billion of Chinese imports," it said.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. has agreed not to proceed with a 15% tariff levy on some $160 billion worth of imports from China that were due to come into effect on Sunday.
In return, both countries said that China had agreed commitments to buy a range of U.S. products, including farm produce. Trump said that the volumes would be “massive”, but gave no details on volume.
CNBC cited deputy Finance Minister Liao Min as saying that “data and detailed terms will be released later."
Trump also said China had agreed to “structural changes” in its economy, but likewise gave no details of what they were, or whether the U.S. intended to monitor their effectiveness.
Trump said that negotiations on a second, more comprehensive deal aimed at addressing the U.S.’s remaining concerns about China’s trade practises would begin immediately, rather than after the 2020 election, as he had suggested last week.
According to the English-language Chinese paper Global Times, the text of the “phase-1” agreement "includes nine chapters, including intellectual property rights, technology transfer, food and agriculture, financial services, exchange rate and transparency, expanding trade, bilateral evaluation, dispute settlement and final agreement."
Stocks whipsawed on the uncoordinated and not entirely consistent messages provided by the two sides. By 10:50 AM ET (1550 GMT), The Dow Jones and S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were all essentially unchanged on the day, having given up initial gains.