For all unsured goods – which account for 29 percent of China`s total merchandise imports from the United States and 27 percent of total U.S. merchandise exports to China in 2017 – the first phase agreement does not contain a legal objective. As of October 2020, Chinese imports of all uncovered goods from the United States were $28.4 billion, 25% less than in the same period in 2017. U.S. exports of all unsured goods to China were $22.0 billion in September, down 13% from the same period in 2017. (October data on uncovered products will be available on December 7, 2020). Economist Paul Krugman said in September 2020 that if Democratic candidate Joe Biden were to win the U.S. presidential election, he should maintain a strong stance against China, while focusing more on industrial policy than on trade tariffs. [326] In an april 2018 article in Forbes, Harry G. Broadman, a former U.S. negotiator, said he agreed with the Trump administration`s core position that the Chinese did not respect fair, transparent, market-based rules for global trade, but he contradicted his means of unilaterally enforcing tariffs and said the government should instead adopt a coalition-based approach. [317] When Trump introduced tariffs on steel and aluminum in March 2018, he said, « Trade wars are good and easy to win »[53] but when the conflict continued to escalate until August 2019, Trump said, « I never said China would be easy. » [54] [55] The agreement is an important turning point in U.S. trade policy and in the types of free trade agreements that the United States has generally supported.
Instead of reducing tariffs to allow trade in goods and services to meet market demand, the agreement leaves a record level of tariffs and forces China to buy some $200 billion worth of goods in two years. Data Sharing Notice: This update is based on data of 25 November 2020 published on 25 November 2020 for Chinese and US exports – provisional data on US exports to China, which are monitored under the agreement, are now published before the full release scheduled for 7 December 2020. The next update will be based on data from November 2020, which will be published on December 25, 2020 (Chinese imports) and December 23, 2020 (U.S. exports). Provisional U.S. export data for October were zero for aircraft (harmonized customs plan 8800 and 8802); All revisions to the data will be included in a review that was published on December 7. Chinese customs reported that imports of Chinese aircraft (8802) were only $506 million in October. In September 2019, U.S. automakers reduced their capital investments and delayed the shutdown due to uncertainty caused by the trade war.
[225] While other presidents have tried to change China`s economic approach, Mr. Trump has slipped into it. The agreement stipulates that « China must ensure » that its purchases reach $200 billion by 2021, guaranteeing an export boom as a master.