U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. December 21, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis
December 22, 2019
By Alexandra Alper
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Saturday said the United States and China would “very shortly” sign their so-called Phase One trade pact.
“We just achieved a breakthrough on the trade deal and we will be signing it very shortly,” Trump said at a Turning Point USA event in Florida.
The Phase One deal was announced earlier this month as part of a bid to end the months-long tit-for-tat trade war between the world’s two largest economies, which has roiled markets and hit global growth.
Under the deal, the United States would agree to reduce some tariffs in exchange for a big jump in Chinese purchases of American farm products.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week the pact would be signed in early January, saying that the deal had already been translated and was just undergoing a technical “scrub.”
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Writing by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Leslie Adler)
