On January 15, 2020, the U.S. and China signed a Phase One economic and trade agreement. The agreement requires changes to China’s economic and trade programs in intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange.
According to the fact sheet released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), China will also “make substantial additional purchases of U.S. goods and services in the coming years.” In return, the U.S. will modify its Section 301 tariff actions. Following the agreement, USTR announced the modification of the fourth list of Section 301 tariffs, reducing the duty rate to 7.5% effective February 14, 2020.
USTR’s fact sheet on the Phase One agreement can be found here:
The full text of the agreement can be found here:
USTR’s notice of modification of the Section 301 tariffs can be found here:
