US and China hold phone call to discuss phase one trade deal

Officials from Beijing and Washington reiterated on Monday night their commitment to the phase one trade deal between their two countries.

According to the statement released by the US government, in their first biannual review conducted overnight, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lightizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin assessed the progress made to date on implementing the trade agreement.

Regular reviews every six months were part of the original agreement signed in January 2020.

Both sides addressed the structural changes that China had already carried out, as set forth in the agreement. Those included greater protection for intellectual property rights, the removal of impediments to American companies entering the Chinese market in the areas of financial services and agriculture and eliminating forced technology transfers.

The parties also discussed the significant increases in imports of US goods by China as well as future actions needed to fully implement the agreement.

For its part, Beijing committed to expand purchases of certain US goods and services by a combined $200bn over 2020 and 2021 from their 2017 levels in order to meet its obligations. As of June 2020, China had purchased $40.2bn based on Chinese import data.

According to the statement, both sides agreed that progress had been made and reaffirmed their commitment to taking the steps needed to ensure the success of the deal.

US President Donald Trump's decision to indefinitely postpone the planned six-month review of the deal, which had originally been set for 15 August, had led some market participants to fear that the deal might be scuttled.