President Trump announced that he would be signing off on the first phase of the US-China trade deal on Jan 15, before he heads to Beijing for the next round of talks with China.
He said in a tweet on Jan 1 that high level Chinese representatives would be present at the signing ceremony at the White House.
The US and China called a temporary truce on the two-years-old tariff war in late 2019. In December, 2019, both countries announced a Phase One deal where the US canceled and reduced some tariffs in exchange for China’s promise to increase purchases of goods exported from the US.
The Phase One deal includes a commitment from China to increase its purchase of US goods to a minimum of $200bn over the next two years. The deal includes metal and scrap shipments from both countries.
The Motor and Equipment Manufacturing Association (MEMA) lauded the news saying that it had repeatedly called for an agreement between the two countries that would allow US companies to remain competitive in the global marketplace.
In 2019, MEMA opposed the tariffs war including the third round of Sec 301 tariffs imposed on imports from China, which included shipments of thousands of motor vehicle parts and materials. The association had voiced concerns that these tariffs would have a disproportionate and significant impact on US consumers and would place an additional burden on small- and medium-sized spare parts businesses.