China And The United States Signed The First Stage Economic And Trade Agreement, And The Tariff Of 300 Billion Dollars Should Be Lowered.

On January 15th, the signing ceremony of the first stage economic and trade agreement between China and the United States was officially held in the White House. At the signing ceremony, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice premier of the State Council and Liu Hu, the Chinese leader of the Sino US comprehensive economic dialogue, said in his speech that China and the United States should start from the overall situation, face differences, control differences and reach the first stage economic and trade agreement, which is beneficial to China, to Yu Meiguo and to the whole world.

After the speech, Liu and the US President Trump formally signed the first Sino US economic and trade agreement at the White House. The two sides made a good start to the world economy in 2020 with a mutually beneficial and win-win bilateral document.

First stage economic and trade agreement announcement

With the signing of the first stage economic and trade agreement between China and the United States, the United States Trade Representative Office (USTR) issued a notice on January 15, 2020, deciding that since February 14, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time, that is, Beijing time from February 15th 01:01, the US $300 billion 4A tariff has been reduced from 15% to 7.5%. That is, Beijing time 01:01 February 15th, the United States $300 billion 4A list tariff from 15% to 7.5% officially entered into force.

In May 2019, the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the launching of a public review process for the 25% tariff plan of $300 billion for Chinese exports. The list complementation with the US $200 billion product tax increase list implemented in May 10, 2019, including almost all Chinese clothing products and some textiles. The US tariff cuts should be relatively good for the export of China's textile and garment industry.

This morning, the official website of the Ministry of finance of People's Republic of China released the full text of the announcement of the first stage economic and trade agreement between China and the United States.

The agreement includes nine chapters, including preamble, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, food and agricultural products, financial services, exchange rate and transparency, expanding trade, bilateral assessment and dispute settlement, and final provisions. At the same time, the two sides agreed that the US side will fulfill relevant commitments to phasing out tariffs on Chinese products at a phased stage, so as to achieve a shift from increased tariffs to lower tariffs.

What are the main contents of the protocol?

After signing the first stage economic and trade agreement, Liu said in response to reporters' questions, China and the United States reached the first stage economic and trade agreement between China and the United States on the basis of equality and mutual respect. To some extent, this agreement has resolved the concerns of both sides and achieved mutual benefit and win-win results. It is mainly embodied in three aspects: first, deepen bilateral trade cooperation, expand the trade scale between the two sides in agricultural products, manufactured goods, energy and service industries, so as to better meet the growing needs of people's lives. Two, we should further relax market access, including expanding two-way opening in the financial sector and providing more market opportunities for enterprises in both countries. The three is to continuously optimize the business environment. The two sides are committed to increasing the protection of intellectual property rights and encouraging technological cooperation based on voluntary and market conditions, so as to better promote fair competition and stimulate the vitality of innovation and development of market players. At the same time, bilateral assessments and dispute settlement arrangements will be established to resolve economic and trade disputes in a timely and effective manner. On the issue of tariff dumping, the United States has undertaken to cancel some tariffs on Chinese products, so as to achieve a change in tariffs.

How to evaluate this agreement?

Liu He said that as the world's top two economies and the two major powers that bear important responsibilities in international affairs, China and the United States, starting from the overall situation and achieving the first stage economic and trade agreement, are beneficial to China, to the United States and to the whole world. Economically, this agreement helps to alleviate the current trade frictions and eliminate market uncertainty. It is an agreement that can stabilize expectations, enhance confidence, create opportunities and promote prosperity. Politically, the agreement is conducive to maintaining the stable and healthy development of Sino US relations, creating a good international environment and promoting world peace and development. For this reason, the announcement of the agreement between China and the United States was immediately welcomed by China and the United States and the international community and financial markets, and contributed positively to the stability and development of the world economy.

Agreement on multiple key issues

According to the agreement, China promises to expand imports from the United States of not less than US $200 billion over the next two years on the basis of the scale of 2017, including manufacturing, agricultural products, energy and services. However, this is not a unilateral requirement for China to expand imports. Han Jun, Vice Minister of agriculture and rural affairs, said that the agreement fully embodies the comparative advantages of China and the United States.

As important as expanding trade cooperation, the two sides have reached a number of agreements in terms of intellectual property protection and technology transfer. For example, there are specialized drug patent data supplement, patent link, patent term compensation and containment of malicious trademark registration system, and so on. The strict destruction measures for counterfeit goods also emphasize that Chinese and American enterprises and individuals can enter the other market effectively and operate freely and freely, and do not transfer the technology by means of administrative management or licensing.

In 2018, the number of patents applied by Chinese enterprises reached 1 million 540 thousand, ranking first in the world. In the eyes of the industry, a high level of intellectual property protection can create a more stable, predictable and business environment for the two enterprises. This is exactly the reform measure that meets China's own development needs from the development stage of China's high-quality transformation. Zhang Yuejiao, an appeal body of the former WTO dispute settlement mechanism and professor of Tsinghua University, believes that China has always been on the road to efforts to improve the intellectual property rights protection system.

It is worth noting that in the agreement, China and the United States set up bilateral assessment and dispute settlement mechanism to maintain effective communication and promote early settlement of the problem. Previously, it was seen by some media as a mechanism for the implementation of the US supervision agreement. This is obviously contrary to the principle of equality and mutual benefit. Zhang Yuejiao said that this is a bilateral consultation mechanism, not based on the laws of one country. "

In addition, there are many provisions in terms of financial services and exchange rate, such as fair, effective and non discriminatory market access treatment in the areas of banks, securities, insurance, electronic payment and so on. China promises to implement the announced open policy equally and accept the applications of various financial institutions in accordance with the law. The US side will actively promote the practical obstacles that Chinese financial institutions have to do in the US.