TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
China didn't buy any of $200 billion US exports pledged in deal: Study
The study found that China bought only 57 percent of the US exports it had committed to purchase under the so-called phase one trade deal.
Change Size
A cargo ship berths at a port in Lianyungang in Jiangsu, China, on May 8, 2021. (AFP/-)
C
hina did not purchase any of the extra US$200 billion in United States (US) exports pledged under a bilateral trade deal signed in 2020, an analysis by a US research institute showed Tuesday, highlighting the failure of the agreement that was touted as "historic" by then US President Donald Trump.
Under the so-called phase one trade deal, China agreed to increase purchases of certain US goods and services by at least $200 billion in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2017 levels, meaning the world's second-largest economy would buy a total of $502.4 billion over the two years.
But actual US exports of the goods and services in the two-year period stood at $288.8 billion, more than $213 billion short of the target, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
"In the end, China bought only 57 percent of the US exports it had committed to purchase under the agreement," Chad Bown, senior fellow of the Washington-based institute, said in his report. "Today the only undisputed 'historical' aspect of that agreement is its failure."
The analysis supports the assertion of the administration of President Joe Biden that China had not met its purchase commitments under the trade deal.
"It is on China to show up and follow through on its commitment," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a press conference Tuesday when asked how the US government is planning to respond. She also said trade officials would work to "determine the next steps."
The Peterson Institute said in its report that the phase one deal was not a "total washout," given that it led to the halt of a tit-for-tat tariff war, which was started by the Trump administration to reduce the US trade deficit with China, and rectify its concerns over intellectual property theft and other issues.
But it indicated that achieving the $200 billion purchase commitment seems to have been difficult in the first place, given the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertainty over US-China trade relations that remained even after the deal was reached.
The phase one deal also led to an immediate rollback of some of the US tariffs imposed on China amid the trade war, but remaining duties have continued to affect many Chinese products.
