BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - After months of negotiations, the U.S. and China officially signed an historic phase one trade deal on Wednesday in an effort to defuse the bitter trade dispute between the two economic superpowers.
President Donald Trump signed the agreement along with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Beijing's chief trade negotiator, in a ceremony at the White House.
In lengthy and sometimes rambling remarks ahead of the signing, Trump said the U.S. and China are 'righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families.'
'It doesn't get any bigger than this,' added Trump, who launched his trade war back in March of 2018 to address what he has described as the U.S. being taken advantage of by China.
Trump said the deal calls for China to purchase $200 billion worth of U.S. goods over the next two years, including up to $50 billion worth of agricultural products.
The deal also purportedly addresses issues such as China's intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and currency manipulation.
In exchange, the U.S. will scrap a new round of tariffs and cut tariffs on approximately $120 billion worth of Chinese goods in half to 7.5 percent.
Trump noted a 25 percent tariff on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports will remain in place in order to give the U.S. leverage as the two countries enter into phase two negotiations.
'We're leaving tariffs on, but I will agree to take those tariffs off if we are able to do phase two. In other words, we're negotiating with the tariffs,' Trump said.
After Trump spoke for nearly an hour, Chinese Vice Premier He read a letter from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the letter, the Chinese leader described the phase one trade deal as 'good for China, for the U.S. and for the whole world.'
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