Initial China trade deal defuses tensions, but US still has concerns

The United States has now collected more than $39 billion from the tariffs placed on $360 billion worth of Chinese goods

When President Trump and China confirmed on Friday that they had reached an initial trade deal, it helped defuse tensions in a 19-month trade war and avoided another round of punishing tariffs scheduled for this weekend.

But a trade deal that took nearly two years to reach and inflicted global economic damage in the process does little to resolve the United States’ biggest concerns about China’s trade practices, including its use of industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises to dominate global industries like steel and solar panels.

If signed, the deal would increase Chinese purchases of American farm and energy products, place limits