President Donald Trump said he will sign the first phase of a trade deal with China on January 15th, beginning an agreement that has China raising purchases of American farm goods in exchange for lower tariffs on some of its products.
In a tweet, President Trump said, “The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present.”
I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15. The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present. At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019
The deal, which was announced on December 13th, states the U.S. will suspend plans for new tariffs on $160 billion of Chinese imports. In exchange, China agreed to increase its purchase of American agricultural products.
There still is some confusion over the agreement, however, as no version of the text has been made public, and Chinese officials have yet to publicly commit to key terms of the agreement.
Trump also stated he will be going to Beijing to begin talks on Phase Two at a later date.