China’s failure to purchase enough US exports under the flawed “phase one” trade deal is cause for celebration. The only way the pact could have been fully implemented was if China used the same opaque, non-market tools that have long bedeviled American firms trying to do business there.
CHICAGO – Two years ago, in an attempt to end their deepening trade war, the United States and China signed an agreement in which China promised to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of US goods and services in 2020 and 2021, relative to 2017 levels. That implied a total purchase commitment of $502.4 billion over the two-year period. In the end, China bought only 57% of the US exports that it had promised to buy, or $288.8 billion, and thus purchased none of the extra $200 billion.
CHICAGO – Two years ago, in an attempt to end their deepening trade war, the United States and China signed an agreement in which China promised to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of US goods and services in 2020 and 2021, relative to 2017 levels. That implied a total purchase commitment of $502.4 billion over the two-year period. In the end, China bought only 57% of the US exports that it had promised to buy, or $288.8 billion, and thus purchased none of the extra $200 billion.