Trump Approved Phase 1 Trade Deal 'Capitulation' To China - US Senator

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2019) The preliminary trade agreement with China announced on Friday by President Donald Trump was a sell-out that does not commit Beijing to undertaking any necessary structural reforms, US Senator Chris Murphy said in a statement.

The United States and China announced on Friday that they had worked out the Phase One trade deal that is expected to be signed in early January. Under the deal, China will purchase $50 billion worth of US agricultural goods, Trump said.

"The deal Trump just announced with China is the exact outcome we feared," Murphy said on Friday. "Trump single-handedly took down the US economy with tariffs that killed 300,000 jobs, and this deal doesn't commit China to any serious structural reforms."

The senator said US farm exports to China fell in 2018 by $12 billion, and then Trump made taxpayers spend $28 billion in emergency farm payouts.

"The promises China is making in this deal don't come close to making up for the billions we have already lost and spent on Trump's nonsensical trade war... What on earth did Trump put us through this economic hell for?" he asked.

Murphy accused Trump of escalating the crisis for show and then ratcheting it down with no wins for the United States.

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