'Phase One' of US-China trade deal to be signed on Jan 15: Trump

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that the 'phase one' trade deal between the United States and China will be signed on January 15.

"I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15. The ceremony will take place at the White House. High-level representatives of China will be present. At a later date, I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!" the President wrote on Twitter.

Prior to this, Trump stated that he and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would soon hold a signing ceremony for phase one of the bilateral trade agreement.

A senior US administration official told reporters on December 13 that China had agreed to increase its purchases of goods from the United States by USD 200 billion over the next two years under a newly forged partial trade deal between the two countries.

Earlier in December, the United States and China announced that they had worked out the phase one trade deal as part of a larger bilateral trade agreement that would help resolve the long-lasting trade war between the two countries.

As part of the accord, the two sides agreed to not introduce new duties that were planned to go into effect on December 15.

The signing of a phase one deal during Liu's trip would mark a point of truce in the bitter trade war between the world's two biggest economies, one that is expected to boost global markets and brighten an increasingly gloomy outlook for economic growth.