US-China trade deal gets tepid reception

US officials announced a truce in the trade war with China with much fanfare, but economists and trade experts call it largely a victory for Beijing. After a dispute that raged for close to two years, with several fumbled efforts at a resolution, the US agreed to cancel planned tariffs and rollback others immediately, without a similar commitment from China to lift tariffs it imposed on the US. “Pardon me if I don’t pop champagne, but aside from a cessation of continued escalation, there is not much worth cheering,” leading China expert Scott Kennedy said in an analysis of the agreement. “The costs have been substantial and far reaching, the benefits narrow and ephemeral.” The US Trade Representative office said they expect to sign the phase one agreement in the first week of January, and issued a fact sheet highlighting key points, including enforcement provisions and improved protection for American technology. In addition, it includes a Chinese commitment to buy $200 billion more in US goods and services over two years, USTR said. That would be a significant increase: China imported just shy of $190 billion in goods and services in 2017, so if the target is met it would cut the US trade deficit with China by a third.