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              Congressional
            *.Research Service
                informing the legist ive debate since 1914____________________




U.S. Announces Preliminary Phase One Trade

Deal with China



December 19, 2019

The Trump Administration announced on December 13, 2019, a draft agreement with the Chinese
government on a subset of trade and investment issues the Administration raised in March 2018 under
Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. The Chinese government has not formally agreed to the
agreement and neither side has signed it. China is currently reviewing the text, leaving open the potential
for disagreement or renegotiation of terms. If the process goes smoothly, U.S. Trade Representative
(USTR)  Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He could sign the agreement in January 2020 in
Washington, DC, before starting phase two negotiations.
The Administration identified four concerns about China's behavior in its March 2018 Section 301
Report-forced technology transfer, cyber-enabled theft of U.S. intellectual property (IP) and trade
secrets, discriminatory and nonmarket licensing practices, and state-funded strategic acquisition of U.S.
assets-and subsequently imposed four rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods. China responded with four
rounds of counter tariffs. Negotiations also sought to address President Trump's concerns about the trade
balance and incorporate Chinese offers in unrelated areas, such as financial services.
The USTR  said the two sides have drafted an 86-page text covering some aspects of IP, technology
transfer, agriculture, financial services, exchange rates, and dispute resolution that could be made public
over the next few weeks. The two sides have been working with a draft text since at least May 2019,
when  China reportedly returned a heavily marked up draft and held up purchase agreements until the
United States agreed to lift some tariffs. The Administration may have released details of the draft
agreement to justify its decision to delay tariffs scheduled to take effect on December 15 and to lock in
terms with China.

Reactions

Some  Members  of Congress and most commentators assess the deal to be a first step in a longer effort to
resolve U.S. trade concerns with China. Many observers call it a short-term truce, noting it falls
significantly short of the Administration's goal of a comprehensive settlement, leaving tough systemic
issues on IP and technology transfer to phase two talks. The USTR agrees that the deal is just a first step,
but notes that most U.S. tariffs remain in place and that the deal will have a strong enforcement
mechanism. Critics counter that the Administration was too quick to settle and that by lifting and delaying
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